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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


SOUTHERN  BRANCH, 

UNIVERSITY  CT  CALIFORNIA, 

LIBRARY, 

LOS  ANGELES,  CALIF. 


OBSERVATIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS 


MADE    IN    THE     COURSE    OF    A 


JOURNEY 


THROUGH 


FRANCE,  ITALY,  AND  GERMANY. 


By   HESTER    LYNCH   PIOZZI. 


JN    TWO    VOLUMES, 

.  y  O,L.    ii.  t 


LONDON: 

Printed  for  A.  ST  RAH  AN;  and  T.  CAD  ELL  in  the  Strand. 
M  DCC  LXXX1X. 

53511 


OBSERVATIONS    AND    REFLECTIONS 

MADE  IN  A  JOURNEY  THROUGH 

France,    Italy,    and  Germany. 


NAPLES. 

ON  the  tenth  day  of  this  month  we  arriv'- 
ed  early  at  Naples,  for  I  think  it  was 
about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  ;  and  furs 
the  providence  of  God  preferved  us,  for  never 
was  fuch  weather  feen  by  me  fince  I  came  into 
the  world ;  thunder,  lightning,  ftorm  at  fea> 
rain  and  wind,  contending  for  maftery,  and 
combining  to  extinguish,  the  torches  bought 
to  light  us  the  laft  ilage  :  Vefuvius,  vomiting 
fire,  and  pouring  torrents  of  red  hot  lava  down 
its  fides,  was  the  only  object  vifible ;  and 
that  we  faw  plainly  in  the  afternoon  thirty 
miles  off,  where  I  afked  a  Francifcan  friar, 
If  it  was  the  famous  volcano?  "  Yes,"  replied 
VOL.  II.  B  he, 


2  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

he,  "  that's  our  mountain,  which  throws  up 
money  for  us,  by  calling  foreigners  to  fee  the 
extraordinary  effects  of  fo  furprifing  a  phe- 
nomenon." The  weather  was  quiet  then, 
and  we  had  no  notion  of  paffing  fuch  a  hor- 
rible night ;  but  an  hour  after  dark,  a  ftorm 
came  on,  which  was  really  dreadful  to  endure ; 
or  even  look  upon  :  the  blue  lightning,  whofe 
colour  mewed  the  nature  of  the  original  mi- 
nerals from  which  me  drew  her  exiftence, 
fhone  round  us  in  a  broad  expanfe  from  time 
to  time,  and  fudden  darknefs  followed  in  an 
inftant :  no  object  then  but  the  fiery  river 
could  be  feen,  till  another  flam  difcovered  the 
waves  toffing  and  breaking,  at  a  height  I 
never  faw  before. 

Nothing  fure  was  ever  more  fublime  or 
awful  than  our  entrance  into  Naples  at  the 
dead  hour  we  arrived,  when  not  a  whifper  was 
to  be  heard  in  the  flreets,  and  not  a  glimpfe 
of  light  was  left  to  guide  us,  except  the  fmall 
lamp  hung  now  and  then  at  a  high  window 
before  a  favourite  image  of  the  Virgin. 

My  poor  maid  had  by  this  time  nearly 
loft  her  wits  with  terror,  arid  the  French 
valet,  crufhed  with  fatigue,  and  covered 

with 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.  3 

•with  rain  and  fea-fpray,  had  juft  life  enough 
left  to  exclaim — "  Ah^  Madame  !  il  me  ftmble 
que  nous  famines  venus  icy  exprts  pour  voir  la 
la  Jin  du  monde*" 

The  Ville  de  Londres  inn  was  full, 
and  could  not  accommodate  our  family ; 
but  calling  up  the  people  of  the  Crocelle, 
we  obtained  a  noble  apartment,  the  win- 
dows of  which  look  full  upon  the  cele- 
brated bay  which  wafhes  the  wall  at  our 
door.  Caprea  lies  oppofite  the  drawing-room 
or  gallery,  which  is  magnificent ;  arid  my ' 
bed-chamber  commands  a  complete  view  of 
the  mountain,  which  I  value  more,  and  which 
called  me  the  firft  night  twenty  times  away 
from  fleep  and  fupper,  though  neyer  fo  in 
want  of  both  as  at  that  moment  furely. 

Such  were  my  firft  impreflions  of  this  won- 
derful metropolis,  of  which  I  had  been  always 
reading  fummer  defcripticns,  and  had  regarded 
fomehow  as  an  Hefperian  garden,  an  earthly 
paradife,  where  delicacy  and  foftnefs  fubdued 
every  danger,  and  general  fweetnefs  captivated 

*  Lord,  Madam  !  why  we  came  here  on  purpofe  fure 
to  fee  the  end  of  the  world. 

B  2  every 


4  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

every  fenfe  ; — nor  have  I  any  reafon  yet  to 
fay  it  will  not  ftill  prove  fo,  for  though  xvet, 
and  weary,  and  hungry,  we  wanted  no  fire, 
and  found  only  inconvenience  from  that  they 
lighted  on  our  arrival.  It  was  the  fafhion  at 
Florence  to  ftruggle  for  a  Terreno,  but  here 
we  are  all  perched  up  one  hundred  and  forty 
two  fleps  from  the  level  of  the  land  or  fea  • 
large  balconies,  apparently  well  fecured,  give 
me  every  enjoyment  of  a  profpect,  which  no 
repetition  can  render  tedious :  and  here  we 
have  agreed  to  ftay  till  Spring,  which,  I  truft, 
will  come  out  in  this  country  as  foon  as  the 
new  year  calls  it. 

Our  eagernefs  to  fee  fights  has  been  re- 
prefTed  at  Naples  only  by  rinding  every  thing 
a  fight;  one  need  not  ftir  out  to  look  for  won- 
ders fure,  while  this  amazing  mountain  con- 
tinues to*  exhibit  fuch  various  fcenes  of  fub- 
limity  and  beauty  at  exa&ly  the  diftance  one 
would  chufe  to  obferve  it  from ;  a  diftance 
which  almoft  admits  examination,  and  cer- 
tainly excludes  immediate  fear.  When  in 
the  filent  night,  however,  one  liftens  to  its 
groaning  j  while  hollow  fighs,  as  of  gigantic 

farrow. 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.  5 

forrow,  are  often  heard  diftin&ly  in  my  apart- 
merit  ;  nothing  can  furpafs  one's  fenfations  of 
amazement,  except  the  confciouinefs  that  cuf- 
tom  will    ahate  their  keennefs:    I  have   not, 
however,  yet  learned  to  lie  quiet,  when  co- 
lumns of  flame,   high  as  the  mountain's  felf, 
ihoot  from  its  crater  into  the  clear  atmofphere 
with  a  loud  and  violent  noife;  nor  fhall  I  ever 
forget  the  fcene  it  prefented  one  day  to   my 
aftonimed  eyes,  while  a  thick  cloud,   charged 
heavily  with  electric  matter,  paffing  over,  met 
the  fiery  explofion  by  mere  chance,  and  went 
off  in  fuch  a  manner  as  effectually  baffles  all 
verbal  defcription,  and  lafted  too  (hort  a  time 
for  a  painter  to  feize  the  moment,  and  imitate 
its  very  ftrange  effect.     Monfieur  de  Vollaire, 
however,  a  native  of  France,  long  refident  in 
this  city,  has  obtained,   by  perpetual  obferva- 
tion,  a  power  of  reprefenting  Vefuyius  without 
that  black  fhadow,  which  others  have  thought 
ne.ceffary  to   increafe  the  contraft,  but  which 
greatly  takes  away  all  refemblance  of  its  ori- 
ginal.    Upon  reflection  it  appears  to  me,  that 
the  men  moft  famous  at  London  and  Paris  for 
performing  tricks  with  lire  have  been  always 
Italians    in    my   time,    and    commonly  Nea- 
politans ;   no  wonder,  I  mould  think,  Naples 
B  3  would 


6  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

would  produce  prodigious  cormoifieurs  in 
this  way ;  we  have  almoft  perpetual  light- 
ning of  various  colours,  according  to  the 
foil  from  whence  the  vapours  are  exhaled  ; 
fometimes  of  a  pale  ftraw  or  lemon  colour, 
often  white  like  artificial  flame  produced  by 
camphor,  but  ofteneft  blue,  bright  as  the  rays 
emitted  through  the  coloured  liquors  fet  in 
the  window  of  a  chemift's  fhop  in  London — 
and  with  fuch  thunder  !  ! — "  For  God's  fake, 
Sir,"  faid  I  to  fome  of  them, "  is  there  no  danger 
of  the  fhips  in  the  harbour  here  catching  fire  ? 
why  we  fhould  all  fly  up  in  the  air  directly,  if 
once  thefe  flafhes  fhould  communicate  to  the 
room  where  any  of  the  veflels  keep  their 
powder." — "  Gunpowder,  Madam  !"  replies 
the  man,  amazed ;  "  why  if  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul  came  here  with  gunpowder  on  board,  we 
fhould  foon  drive  them  out  again:  don't  you 
know,"  aded  he,  "  that  every  fhip  difcharges 
her  contents  at  fuch  a  place  (naming  it),  and 
never  comes  into  our  port  with  a  grain  on 
board  ?" 

The  palaces  and  churches  have  no  fhare  in 
one's  admiration  at  Naples,  who  fcorns  to  de- 
pend on  man,  however  mighty,  however  fkil- 
ful,  for  her  ornaments ;  while  Heaven  has 

bellowed 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.  7 

beftowed  on  her  and  her  conform  all  that  can 
excite  aftonifhment,  all  that  can  imprefs  awe. 
We  have  fpent  three  or  four  days  upon  Poz- 
zuoli  and  its  environs ;  its  cavern  fcooped  ori- 
ginally by  nature's  hand,  affifted  by  the  armies 
of  Cocceius  Nerva — ever  tremendous,  ever 
gloomy  grotto  ! — which  leads  to  the  road  that 
fhews  you  Ifchia,  an  old  volcano,  now  an 
ifland  apparently  rent  afunder  by  an  earth- 
quake, the  divifion  too  plain  to  beg  afliftance 
from  philofophy :  this  is  commonly  called  the 
Grotto  dl  Pofillppo  though ;  you  pafs  through 
it  to  go  to  every  place;  not  without  flam- 
beaux, if  you  would  go  fafely,  and  avoid  the 
neceffity  the  poor  are  under,  who,  driving 
their  carts  through  the  fubterranean  paflage, 
cry  as  they  meet  each  other,  to  avoid  joftling, 
alia  montagna,  or  alia  mar  in  a ,  keep  to  the  rock 
fidc^  or  keep  to  the  fea  fide.  It  is  at  the  right 
hand,  awhile  before  you  enter  this  cavern,  that 
climbing  up  among  a  heap  of  bufhes,  you  find 
a  hollow  place,  and  there  go  down  again — it  is 
the  tomb  of  Virgil  ;  and,  for  other  antiquities, 
I  recollect  nothing  mewed  me  when  at  Rome 
that  gave  me  as  complete  an  idea  how  things 
were  really  carried  on  in  former  days,  as  does 
the  temple  of  Shor  Apis  at  Pozzuoli,  where 
B  4  the 


g  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

the  area  is  exaclly  all  it  ever  was;  the  ring 
remains  where  the  victim  was  fattened  to;  the 
priefts  apartments,  lavatories,  &c.  the  drains 
for  carrying  the  beaft's  blood  away,  all  yet 
remains  as  perfecl  as  it  is  poffible.  The  end 
of  Caligula's  bridge  too,  but  that  they  fay  is 
not  his  bridge,  but  a  mole  built  by  fome  fuo 
ceeding  emperor— a  madder  or  a  wickeder  it 
could  not  be—though  here  Nero  bathed,  and 
here  he  buried  his  mother  Agrippina.  Here 
are  the  centum  camera,  the  prifons  employed 
by  that  prince  for  the  cruelleft  of  purpofes  ; 
and  here  are  his  country  palaces  referved  for 
the  moft  odious  ones :  here  effeminacy  learn- 
ed to  fubfift  without  delicacy  or  fhame,  hence 
honour  was  excluded  by  rapacity,  and  con- 
fcience  ftupefied  by  conftant  inebriation:  here 
brainfick  folly  put  nature  and  common  fenfe 
upon  the  rack— Caligula  in  madnefs  courted 
the  moon  to  his  embraces — and  Sylla,  fatiated 
with  blood,  retired,  and  gave  a  premature  ban- 
quet to  thofe  worms  he  had  fo  often  fed  with 
the  fiem.  of  innocence :  here  dwelt  depravity 
in  various  fhapes,  and  here  Pandora's  cham- 
bers left  fcarcely  a.ffofe  at  the  bottom  that  bet- 
ter times  fhould  come  : — who  can  write  profe 

however 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.  9 

however  in  fucb  places  '.—let  the  impoffibility 
of  exprefTmg  my  thoughts  any  other  way  ex- 
cufe  the  following 

VERSES. 

I. 

Firft  of  Achelous'  blood, 
Faireft  daughter  of  the  flood, 
Queen  of  the  Sicilian  fea, 
Beauteous,  bright  Parthenope  ! 
Syren  fweet,  whofe  magic  force 
Stops  the  fwifteft  in  his  courfe ; 
Wifdom's  felf,  when  moil  fevere, 
Longs  to  lend  a  lift'ning  ear, 
Gently  dips  the  fearful  oar, 
Trembling  eyes  the  tempting  fhore, 
And  fighing  quits  th'  enervate  coaft, 
With  only  half  his  virtue  loft. 

II. 

Let  thy  warm,  thy  wond'rous  clime, 
Animate  my  artlefs  rhyme, 
Whilft  alternate  round  me  rile 
Terror,  pleafure,  and  furprife.— ^- 
Here  th'  aftonifh'd  foul  furveys 
Dread  Vefuvius'  awful  blaze, 
Smoke  that  to  the  iky  afpires, 
Heavy  hail  of  folid  fires, 

Flames 


,0  -   OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Flames  the  fruitful  fields  o'erflowing, 
Ocean  with  the  reflex  glowing  ; 
Thunder,  whofe  redoubled  found 
Echoes  o'er  the  vaulted  ground  ! — 
Such  thy  glories,  fuch  the  gloom 
That  conceals  thy  fecret  tomb, 
Sov'reign  of  this  enchanted  fea, 
Where  funk  thy  charms,  Parthenope. 

III. 

Now  by  the  glimm'ring  torch's  ray 
I  tread  Pozzuoli's  cavern'd  way- 
Hollow  grot !  that  might  befeem 
Th'  ^tnean  cyclop,  Polypheme : 
And  here  the  bat  at  noonday  'bides, 
And  here  the  houfelefs  beggar  hides, 
While  the  holy  hermit's  voice 
Glads  me  with  accuftom'd  noife. 
Now  I  trace,  or  travelers  err, 
Modeft  Maro's  fepulchre, 
Where  nature,  fure  of  his  intent, 

Is  ftudious  to  conceal 
That  eminence  he  always  meant 

We  fhould  not  fee  but  feel. 
While  Sannazarius  from  the  fleep 
Views,  well  pleas 'd,  the  fertile  deep 
Give  life  to  them  that  feize  the  fcaly  fry, 
And  to  their  poet — immortality. 


IV 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITAL*.          u 

IV. 

Next  beauteous  Baia's  warm  remains  invite 
To  Nero's  floves  my  wond'ring  fight ; 
Where  palaces  and  domes  deftroy'd 
Leave  a  flat  unwholefome  void  : 
Where  underneath  the  cooling  wave, 
Ordain'd  pollution's  fav'rite  fpot  to  lave, 
Now  hardly  heaves  the  ftifled  figh 
Hot,  hydropic  luxury. 
Yet,  chas'd  by  Heav'n's  correcting  hand, 
Tho'  various  crimes  have  fled  the  land ; 
Tho'  brutifh  vice,  tyrannic  pow'r, 
No  longer  tread  the  trembling  fhore, 

Or  taint  the  ambient  air ; 
By  deftiny's  kind  care  arrang'd, 
Th'  inhabitants  are  fcarcely  chang'd ; 
For  birds  obfcene,  and  beafts  of  prey, 
That  feek  the  night  and  fhun  the  day, 

Still  find  a  dwelling  there. 

V. 

If  then  beneath  the  deep  profound 
Retires  unfeen  the  flipp'ry  ground ; 

If  melted  metals  pour'd  from  high 
A  verdant  mountain  grows  by  time, 
Where  frifking  kids  can  browze  and  climb, 

And  fofter  fcenes  fupply : 
Let  us  who  view  the  varying  fcene, 
And  tread  th'  inflruclive  paths  between, 

Sec 


12         ^OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

See  familh'd  Time  his  fav'rite  Tons  devour, 
Fix'd  for  an  age. — then  fwallow'd  in  an  hour; 
Let  us  at  leafl  be  early  wile,  j 

And  forward  walk  with  heav'n-fix'd  eyes,  / 
Each  fiow'ry  ifle    avoid,   each  precipice  f 
defpife;  J 

Till,  fpite  of  pleafure,  fear,  or  pain, 
Eternity's  firm  coaft  we  gain, 
Whence  looking  back  with  alter'd  eye, 
Thefe  fleeting  phantoms  we'll  defcry, 
And  find  alike  the  fong  and  theme 
Was  but — an  empty,  airy  dream. 

When  one  has  exhaufted  all  the  ideas  pre- 
fented  to  the  mind  by  the  fight  of  Monte 
Nuovo,  made  in  one  night  by  the  eruption  of 
Solfa  Terra,  now  funk  into  itfelf  and  almoft 
extinguished  ;  by  the  lake  Avernus ;  by  the 
Phlegraean  fields,  where  Jupiter  killed  the 
giants,  with  fuch  thunderbolts  as  fell  about  our 
ears  the  other  night  I  truft,  and  buried  one  of 
them  alive  under  mount  TEtna;  when  one  has 
feen  the  Sybil's  grott,  and  the  Elyfian  plains, 
and  every  feat  of  fable  and  of  verfe;  when  one 
lias  run  about  repeating  Virgil's  verfes  and 
Claudian's  by  turns,  and  handled  the  hot 
fand  under  the  cool  waves  of  Baia  ;  when  one 
has  feen  Cicero's  villa  and  Diana's  temple,  and 
talked  about  antiquities  till  one  is  afraid  of 

one's 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         13 

one's  own  pedantry,  and  tired  of  every  one's 
elfe ;  it  is  almoft  time  to  recoiled  realities  of 
more  near  intereft  to  fuch  of  us  as  are  not 
afhamed  of  being  Chriftians,  and  to  remem- 
ber that  it  was  at  Pozzuoli  St,  Paul  arrived 
after  the  ftorms  he  met  with  in  thefe  feas. 
The  wind  is  ftill  called  here  Sieuroc^  o  fia 
lo  vento  Greco  ;  and  their  manner  of  pro- 
nouncing it  led  me  to  think  it  might  poflibly 
be  that  called  in  Scripture  7?tfrorlydon,  abbre^- 
viated  by  that  grammatical  figure,  which  lops 
off  the  concluding  fyllables.  The  old  Paftor 
Patrobas  too,  who  received  and  entertained 
the  Apoftle  here,  lies  interred  under  the  altar 
of  an  old  church  at  Pozzuoli,  made  out  of  the 
remains  of  a  temple  to  Jupiter,  whofe  pillars 
are  in  good  prefervation  :  I  was  earner!  to  fee  * 
the  place  at  leaft,  as  every  thing  named  in  the 
New  Teftament  is  of  true  importance,  but 
one  meets  few  people  of  the  fame  tafte :  for 
Romanifts  take  moft  delight  in  venerating 
traditionary  heroes,  and  Calvinifts,  perhaps 
too  eafily  difgufted,  defire  to  venerate  no 
heroes  at  all. 

Some  curious  infcriptions  here,  to  me  not 

legible,  fhew  how  this  poor  country  has  been 

5  over- 


i4  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

overwhelmed  by  tyrants,  earthquakes,  Sara-* 
cens  !  not  to  mention  the  Goths  and  Vandals, 
who  however  left  no  traces  but  defolation  : 
while,  as  the  prophet  Joel  fays,  "  The  ground 
was  as  the  garden  of  Eden  before  them^  and 
behind  them  a  defolate  ivildernefs. 

Thefe  Mahometan  invaders,  lefs  favage,  but 
not  lefs  cruel,  afforded  at  leaft  an  unwilling  fhel- 
ter  in  that  which  is  now  their  capital,  for  the 
wretched  remains  of  literature.  To  their 
mifty  envelopement  of  fcience,  fatigued  with 
ftruggling  againft  perpetual  fuffocation,  fuc- 
ceeded  impofture,  barbarifm,  and  credulity; 
with  fuperftition  at  their  head,  who  flill 
keeps  her  footing  in  this  country :  and  in- 
fpires  fuch  veneration  for  St.  Januarius,  his 
name,  his  blood,  his  ftatue,  &c.  that  the 
Neapolitans,  who  are  famous  for  blafphemous 
oaths,  and  a  facility  of  taking  the  moft  facred 
words  into  their  mouths  on  every,  and  I  may 
fay,  on  no  occafion,  are  never  heard  to  repeat 
his  name  without  pulling  off  their  hat,  or 
making  fome  reverential  fign  of  worfhip  at 
the  moment.  And  I  have  feen  Italians  from 
other  ftates  greatly  fhocked  at  the  groflhefs  of 
thefe  their  unenlightened  neighbours,  parti- 
cularly the  half-Indian  cuftom  of  burning 

figures 
6 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.          15 

figures  upon  their  fkins  with  gunpowder : 
thefe  figures,  large,  and  oddly  difplayed  too, 
according  to  the  coarfe  notions  of  the  wearer. 

As  the  weather  is  exceedingly  warm,  and 
there  is  little  need  of  clothing  for  comfort,  our 
Lazarcni  have  fmall  care  about  appearances, 
and  go  with  a  vaft  deal  of  their  perfons  un- 
covered, except  by  thefe  ftrange  ornaments. 
The  man  who  rows  you  about  this  lovely 
bay,  has  perhaps  the  angel  Raphael,  or  the 
blefTed  Virgin  Mary,  delineated  on  one 
brawny  fun-burnt  leg,  the  faint  of  the  town 
upon  the  other :  his  arms  reprefent  the  Glory, 
or  the  feven  fpirits  of  God,  or  fome  ftrange 
things,  while  a  brafs  medal  hangs  from  his 
neck,  expreffive  of  his  favourite  martyr:  whom 
they  confidently  affirm  is  fo  madly  venerated 
by  thefe  poor  uninftru&ed  mortals,  that  when 
the  mountain  burns,  or  any  great  difafter 
threatens  them,  they  beg  of  our  Saviour  to 
fpeak  to  St.  Januarius  in  their  behalf,  and 
intreat  him  not  to  refufe  them  his  affiftance. 
Now  though  all  this  was  told  me  by  friends 
of  the  Romifh  perfualion  ;  and  told  me  too 
with  a  juft  horror  cf  the  fuperftitious  folly ; 
I  think  my  remarks  and  inferences  were  not 
agreeable  to  them,  when  exprefling  my 

notion 


16  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

notion  that  it  was  only  a  relick  of  the  adora- 
tion originally  paid  to  Janus  in  Italy,  where 
the  ground  yielding  up  its  froft  to  the  foft 
breath  of  the  new  year,  is  not  ill- typified  by 
the  liquefaction  of  the  blood  ;  a  ceremony 
which  has  fucceeded  to  various  Pagan  ones 
celebrated  by  Ovid  in  the  firft  book  of  his 
Fafti.  We  know  from  hiftory  too,  that  per- 
fumes were  offered  in  *1fanua£$  always,  to 
fignify  the  renovation  of  Jived* ;  and  this 
was  fo  ncceflary,  that  I  think  Tacitus  tells  us 
Thrafea  was  firft  impeached  for  abfence  at 
the  time  of  the  new  year,  when  in  Janus\ 
prefence,  &c.  good  wifhes  were  formed  for 
the  Emperor's  felicity ;  and  no  word  of  ill 
omen  was  to  be  pronounced. — Catitum  erat 
apud  Romanes  ne  quod  mail  ominis  verbum 
cakndts  Januariis  efferretur ;  fays  Pliny: 
and  the  Jlrena,  or  new-years  gifts,  called 
now  by  the  French  "  les  etrennes"  and 
pradifed  by  Lutherans  as  well  as  Romanifts, 
is  the  felf-fame  veneration  of  old  Janus,  if 
fairly  traced  up  to  Tatius  King  of  the  Sa- 
bines,  who  fought  a  laurel  bough  plucked 
from  the  grove  of  the  goddefs  Strcnia,  or 
Strenua,  and  prefented  it  to  his  favourites  on 
the  firft  of  January,  frorn^  whence  the  cuftom 

arofe  j 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         17 

'ofe ;  and  SymmachuSj  in  his  tenth  bookj 
twenty-eighth  epiftle,  mentions  it  clearly 
Xvhen  writing  to  the  Emperors  Theodoiius 
and  Arcadius — "  Strenuarum  ufus  adokvit 
auEtoritaU  Tafzi  regis,  qui  verbenas  felicis 
arbor  is  ex  luco  Strenute  anm" 

Octavius  Csefar  took  the  name  of  Auguftus 
on  the  firft  of  January  in  Janus' s  temple,  by 
Plancus's  advice,  as  a  lucky  day;  and  I  fup- 
pofe  our  new-year's  ode,  fung  before  the 
King  of  England,  may  be  derived  from  the 
fame  fource.  The  old  Fathers  of  the  Church 
declaimed  aloud  againft  the  cuftom  of  new- 
years  gifts,  becaufe  they  confidered  them  as 
of  Pagan  original.  So  much  for  Les  Etrennes, 

As  to  St.  Januarius,  there  certainly  was 
a  martyr  of  that  name  at  Naples,  and  to  him  was 
transferred  much  of  the  veneration  originally 
beftowed  on  the  deity  from  whom  he  wras 
probably  named.  One  need  not  however  wan- 
der round  the  world  with  Banks  and  Solander, 
or  fiare  fo  at  the  accounts  given  us  in  Cook's 
Voyages  of  t allowed  Indians,  when  Naples 
will  mew  one  the  effects  of  a  like  operation, 
very  very  little  better  executed,  on  the  broad 
fhoulders  of  numberlefs  Lazaroni ;  and  of  this 
there  is  no  need  to  examine  books  for  in- 

VOL.  II.  C  forma- 


*8  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

formation,  he  who  runs  over  the  Chiaja  may 
read  in  large  characters  the  grofs  fuperftitiort 
of  the  Napolitani,  who  have  no  inclination 
to  lofe  their  old  claflical  character  for  lazi- 
nefs — 

Et  in  otia  natam 

Parthenopcn ; 

fays  Ovid.  I  wonder  however  whether  our 
peoplfe  would  work  much  furrounded  by 
fimilar  circumftances ;  I  fancy  not :  Englifh- 
rnen,  poor  fellows!  muft  either  work  or 
ftarve  ;  thefe  folks  want  for  nothing  :  a  houfe 
would  be  an  inconvenience  to  them ;  they 
like  to  deep  out  of  doors,  and  it  is  plain  they 
have  fmall  care  for  clothing,  as  many  who 
poflefs  decent  habiliments  enough,  I  fpeak 
of  the  Lazaroni,  throw  almoft  all  off  till  fome 
holiday,  or  time  of  gala,  and  fit  by  the  fea- 
fide  playing  at  moro  with  their  fingers. 

A  Florentine  nobleman  told  me  once,  that 
he  afked  one  of  thefe  fellows  to  carry  his 
portmanteau  for  him,  and  offered  him  a  car- 
tine,  no  fmall  fum  certainly  to  a  Neapolitan, 
and  rather  more  in  proportion  than  an  Eng- 
lifti  {hilling ;  he  had  not  twenty  yards  to  go 
with  it :  "  Are  you  hungry  y  Majler .?"  cries 
the  fellow*  "  Aro,"  replied  Count  Manucci, 

"  but 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.  ig 

"  but  what  of  that  ?"— -"  Why  then  no  more 
am  /:"  was  the  anfwer,  "  and  it  is  too  hot 
'weather  to  carry  burthens  :"  fo  turned  about 
upon  the  other  fide,  and  lay  ftilL 

This  clafs  of  peoplej  amounting  to  a  num- 
ber that  terrifies  one  but  to  think  on,  fome 
fay  fixty  thoufand  fouls,  and  experience 
confirms  no  lefs,  give  the  city  an  air  of 
gaiety  and  cheerfulnefs,  and  one  cannot  help 
honeftly  rejoicing  in.  The  Strada  del  Toledo 
is  one  continual  crowd  :  nothing  can  exceed 
the  confufion  to  a  walker,  and  here  are  little 
gigs  drawn  by  one  horfe,  which,  without  any 
bit  in  his  mouth,  but  a  firing  tied  round  his 
nofe,  tears  along  with  inconceivable  rapidity  a 
fmall  narrow  gilt  chair,  fet  between  the  two 
wheels,  and  no  fpring  to  it,  nor  any  thing 
elfe  which  can  add  to  the  weight ;  and  this 
flying  car  is  a  kind  vijiacre  you  pay  fo  much 
for  a  drive  in,  I  forget  the  fum. 

Horfes  are  particularly  handfome  in  this 
town,  not  fo  large  as  at  Milan,  but  very 
beautiful  and  fpirited ;  the  cream-coloured 
creatures,  fuch  as  draw  our  king's  ftate  coach, 
are  a  common  breed  here,  and  fhine  like 
fattin  :  here  are  fome  too  of  a  fhining  filver 
C  2  white, 


20  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

white,  wonderfully  elegant;  and  the  ladies 
upon  the  Corfo  exhibit  a  variety  fcarceiy  cre- 
dible in  the  colour  of  their  cattle  which  draw 
them  :  but  the  coaches,  harnefs,  trappings, 
&c.  are  vaftly  inferior  to  the  Milanefe,  whofe 
liveries  are  often  fplendid ;  whereas  the  four 
or  five  ill-drefled  ftrange-looking  fellows  that 
difgrace  the  Neapolitan  equipages  feem  to  be 
valued  only  for  their  number,  and  have  very 
often  much  the  air  of  Sir  John  FalftafFs  re- 
cruits. 

Yefterday  however  fhewed  me  what  I 
knew  not  had  exifted — a  fkew-ball  or  pye- 
balled  afs,  eminently  well-proportioned, 
coated  like  a  racer  in  an  Englifh  ftud,  fixteen 
hands  and  a  half  high,  his  colour  bay  and 
white  in  large  patches,  and  his  temper,  as  the 
proprietor  told  me,  fmgularly  docile  and 
gentle.  I  have  longed  perhaps  to  purchafe 
few  things  in  my  life  more  earneftly  than 
this  beautiful  and  ufeful  animal,  which  I 
might  have  had  too  for  two  pounds  fifteen 
fhillings  Englilh,  but  dared  not,  left  like 
Dogberry  I  mould  have  been  written  down 
for  an  afs  by  my  merry  country  folks,  who, 
I  remember,  could  not  let  the  Queen  of 

England 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         « 

England  herfelf  poflefs  in  peace  a  creature 
of  the  fame  kind,  but  handfomer  ftill,  and 
from  a  ftill  hotter  climate,  called  the  Zebra. 

Apropos  to  quadrupeds,  when  Portia,  in 
/the  Merchant  of  Venice,  enumerates  her 
lovers,  fhe  names  the  Neapolitan  prince  firft; 
who,  (he  fays,  does  nothing,  for  his  part,  but 
talk  of  his  horfe,  and  makes  it  his  greateft 
boaft  that  he  can  fhoe  him  himfelf.  This  is 
almoft  literally  true  of  a  nobleman  here ;  and 
they  really  do  not  throw  their  pains  away  ; 
for  it  is  furprifmg  to  fee  what  command  they 
have  their  cattle  in,  though  bits  are  fcarcely 
ufed  among  them. 

The  coat  armour  of  Naples  confifts  of  an 
unbridled  horfe  ;  and  by  what  I  can  make 
out  of  their  character,  they  much  refemble 
him  ; 

Qualis  ubi  abruptis  fugit  prsefsepia  vinclis 
Tandem  liber  sequus,  &c.  &c.  &c.  *  j 

generous  and  gay  ;  headftrong  and  violent  in 
their  difpofition ;  eafy  to  turn,  but  difficult 

*  Freed  from  his  keepers  thus  with  broken  reins 
The  wanton  courfer  prances  o'er  the  plains. 

DRYDEN. 

C  3  to 


22  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

to  flop.  No  authority  is  refpeded  by  them 
when  fome  ftrong  paffion  animates  them  to 
fury  :  yet  lazily  quiet,  and  unwilling  to  ftir 
till  accident  roufes  them  to  terror,  or  rage 
urges  them  forward  to  incredible  exertions  of 
fuddenly-beftowed  ftrength.  In  the  eruption 
of  1 779,  their  fears  and  fuperftitions  rofe  to 
fuch  a  height,  that  they  feized  the  French 
ambaflador  upon  the  bridge,  tore  him  al- 
moft  out  of  his  carriage  as  he  fled  from  Por- 
tici,  and  was  met  by  them  upon  the  Ponte 
della  Maddalena,  where  they  threatened  him 
with  inftant  death  if  he  did  not  get  out  of 
his  carriage,  and  proftrating  himfelf  before 
the  ftatue  of  St.  Januarius,  which  ftands  there* 
intreat  his  protection  for  the  city.  All  this, 
however,  Monf.  le  Gomte  de  Clermont  D'Anir 
boife  did  not  comprehend  a  word  of;  but  tak- 
ing all  the  money  out  of  his  pocket,  threw 
it  down,  happily  for  him,  at  the  feet  of  the 
figure,  and  pacified  them  at  once,  gaining 
time  by  thofe  means  to  efcape  their  vengeance. 
It  was,  I  think,  upon  fome  other  occafion 
that  Sir  William  Hamilton's  book  relates  their 
unworthy  treatment  of  the  venerable  Arch- 
biftiop,  who  refufed  them  the  relicks  with 

which 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.  ^3 

which  they  had  no  doubt  of  faving  the  me- 
naced town  ;  but.  every  time  Vefuvius  burns 
with  danger  to  the  city,  they  fcruple  not  to 
infult  their  Sovereign  as  he  flies  from  itj 
throwing  large  ftones  after  his  chariot,  guards, 
&c.  ;  making  the  infurre&ion,  it  is  fure  to 
occafion,  more  perilous,  if  poffible,  than  the 
volcano  itfelf.  And  laft  night  when  La  M.OJI- 
tagtia  fit  cattlva  *,  as  their  expreffion  was, 
our  Laquais  de  Place  obferved  that  it  might 
ppffibly  be  becaufe  fo  many  hereticks  and  un- 
believers had  been  up  it  the  day  before. 
"  Oh !  let  us,"  as  King  David  wifely  chofe, 
"  fall  into  the  hands  of  God — not  into  thofe  of 
"  man." 

I  wifhed  exceedingly  to  purchafe  here  the 
genuine  account  of  Maflaniello's  far-famed 
feditionand  revolt,  more  dreadful  in  a  certain 
way  than  any  of  the  earthquakes  which  have 
at  different  times  fhaken  this  hollow-founded 
country.  But  my  friends  here  tell  me  it  was 
fuppreiTed,  and  burned  by  the  hands  of  the 
common  executioner,  with  many  chaftife- 
ments  befide  beftowed  upon  the  writer,  who 
tried  to  efcape,  but  found  it  more  prudent 
to  fubmit  to  juftice. 

*  When  the  mountain  was  in  i/1-bumour. 

C  4  Thomas 


24  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Thomas  Agnello  was  the  unluckily-adapted 
name  of  the    mad  fifherman  who  headed  the 
mob  on  that  truly  memorable  occafion  :  but 
it  is  not  an  unufual  thing  here  to  cut  off  the 
firft  fyllable,  and  by  the  figure  aphserefis  alter 
the   appellation  entirely.     By  that  device  of 
dropping  the  /o,  he    has   been   called  MafTa- 
niello  ;  and   this  is  one  of  their  methods  to 
render  the  patois  of  Naples  as  unintelligible  to 
us,  as  if  we   had  never  feen  Italy   till   now  ; 
and  one  is  above  all    things   tormented  with 
their  way  of  pronouncing  names.       Here  are 
Don  and  Donna  again  at  this  town  as  at   Mi^ 
Ian  however,  becaufe  the   King   of  Spain,  or 
Re  Cattolico^  as   thefe  people  always  call  him, 
has  Hill  much-  influence  ;  and   they  feem  to 
think  nearly  as  refpectfully  of  him  as  of  their 
own  immediate   fovereign,  who  is   however 
greatly    beloved    among    them  ;  and    fo  he 
ought   to  be,  for  he  is  the  reprefentative  of 
them  all.     He  rides  and  rows,  and  hunts  the 
wild  boar,  and  catches    fim  in    the  bay,  and 
fells  it  in  the  market,  as  dear  as  he  can  too  i 
but  gives  away  the   money  they  pay  him  for 
it,  and  that  directly  :   fo  that   no  fufpicion  of 
meannefs,  or  of  any  thing  worfe  than  a  little 

rough 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         25 

rough  merriment  can  be  ever  attached  to  his 
truly-honeft,  open,  undefigning  character. 

Stones  of  monarchs  feldom  give  me,  plea- 
fure,who  feldom  am  perfuaded  to  give  credit  to 
tales  told  of  perfons  few  people  have  any 
accefs  to,  and  whofe  behaviour  towards 
thofe  few  is  circumfcribed  within  the  laws  of 
infipid  and  dull  routine ;  but  this  prince  lives 
among  his  fubjeds  with  the  old  Roman 
idea  of  a  window  before  his  bofom  I  believe. 
They  know  the  worft  of  him  is  that  he  {hoots 
at  the  birds,  dances  with  the  girls,  eats  ma- 
caroni, and  helps  himfelf  to  it  with  his  fin- 
gers, and  rows  againft  the  watermen  in  the 
bay,  till  one  of  them  burft  out  o'bleeding  at 
the  nofe  laft  week,  with  his  uncourtly  efforts  to 
outdo  the  King,  who  won  the  trifling  wager 
by  this  accident  :  conquered,  laughed,  and 
leaped  on  fliore  amidft  the  acclamations  of  the 
populace,  who  huzzaed  him  home  to  the  pa- 
lace, from  whence  he  feht  double  the  fum  he 
had  won  to  the  waterman's  wife  and  chil- 
dren, with  other  tokens  of  kindnefs.  Mean 
time,  while  he  refolves  to  be  happy  himfelf, 
he  is  equally  determined  to  make  no  man 
miferable. 

When 


26  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

When  the  Emperor  and  the  Grand  Duke 
talked  to  him  of  their  new  projects  for  reform- 
ation in  the  church,  he  told  them  he  faw 
little  advantage  they  brought  into  their  ftates 
by  thefe  new-fangled  notions ;  that  when  he 
was  at  Florence  and  Milan,  the  deuce  a  Nea- 
politan could  he  find  in  either,  while  his  ca- 
pital was  crowded  with  refugees  from  thence  ; 
that  in  fhort  they  might  do  their  way,  but  he 
•would  do  his  ;  that  he  had  not  now  an  enemy 
in  the  world,  public  or  private ;  and  that  he 
would  not  make  himfelf  any  for  the  fake  of 
propagating  dq&rines  he  did  not  understand, 
and  would  not  take  the  trouble  to  ftudy  :  that 
he  fhould  fay  his  prayers  as  he  ufed  to  do, 
and  had  no  doubt  of  their  being  heard,  while 
he  only  begged  bleffings  on  his  beloved  peo- 
ple. So  if  thefe  wife  brothers-in-law  would 
learn  of  him  to  enjoy  life,  inftead  of  fhorten- 
ing  it  by  unnecefTary  cares,  he  invited  them 
to  fee  him  the  next  morning  play  a  great 
match  at  tennis. 

The  truth  is,  thejolly  Neapolitans  lead  a  coarfe 
life,  but  it  is  an  unopprefled  one.  Never  fure 
was  there  in  any  town  a  greater  fhew  of 
abundance  :  no  fettled  market  in  any  given 
place,  I  think,  but  every  third  fhop  full  of 

what 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.         27 

what  the  French  call  fo  properly  ammunition  de 
Bouche>  while  whole  boars,  kids  and  fmall 
calves  dangle  from  a  fort  of  neat  fcaffolding, 
all  with  their  fkins  on,  and  make  a  pretty  ap- 
pearance. Poulterers  hang  up  their  animals 
in  the  feathers  too,  not  lay  them  on  boards 
plucked,  as  at  London  or  Venice. 

The  Strada  del  Toledo  is  at  leaft  as  long  as 
Oxford  Road,  and  ftraight  as  Bond-ftreet, 
very  wide  too,  the  houfes  all  of  ftone,  and  at 
leaft  eight  ftories  high.  Over  the  fhops  live 
people  of  fafhion  I  am  told,  but  the  perfons 
of  particularly  high  quality  have  their  palaces 
in  other  parts  of  the  town  ;  which  town  at 
laft  is  not  a  large  one,  but  full  as  an  egg : 
and  Mr.  Clarke,  'the  antiquarian,  who  refides 
here  always,  informed  me  that  the  late  dif- 
trefles  in  Calabria  had  driven  many  families  to 
Naples  this  year,  befide  fmgle  wanderers  in- 
numerable ;  which  wonderfully  increafed  the 
daily  throng  one  fees  pafling  and  repairing. 
To  hear  the  Lazaroni  mout  and  bawl  about 
the  ftreets  night  and  day,  one  would  really 
fancy  one's  felf  in  a  femi-barbarous  nation  ; 
and  a  Milanefe  officer,  who  has  lived  long 
among  them,  protefted  that  the  manners  of 
the  great  correfponded  in  every  refpect  with 

the 


28  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

the  idea  given  of  them  by  the  little.  His  ac- 
count of  female  ,conduc~t,  and  that  even  in  the 
very  high  ranks,  was  fuch  as  reminded  me  of 
Queen  Oberea's  fmcerity,  when  Sir  Jofeph 
Banks  joked  her  about  Otoroo.  It  is  how- 
ever obfervable,  and  furely  very  praife- 
wcrthy,  that  if  the  Italians  are  not  alhamed  of 
their  crimes,  neither  are  they  afhamed  of  their 
contrition,  I  faw  this  very  morning  an  odd 
fcene  at  church,  which,  though  new  to  me, 
appeared,  perhaps  from  its  frequent  repetition, 
to  ftrike  no  one  but  myfelf. 

A  lady  with  a  long  white  drefs,  and  veiled, 
came  in  her  carriage,  which  waited  for  her 
at  the  door,  with  her  own  arms  upon  it,  and 
three  fervants  better  drefled  than  is  common 
here,  followed  and  put  a  lighted  taper  in  her 
hand.  En  cct  etat^  as  the  French  fay,  fhe 
moved  flowly  up  the  church,  looking  like 
Jane  Shore  in  the  laft  act,  but  not  fo  feeble ; 
and  being  arrived  at  the  fteps  of  the  high 
altar,  threw  herfelf  quite  upon  her  face  before 
it,  remaining  proftrate  there  at  leaft  five  mi- 
nutes, in  the  face  of  the  whole  congrega- 
tion, who,  equally  to  my  amazement,  neither 
ftared  nor  fneered,  neither  laughed  nor  la- 
mented. 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         29 

mented,  but  minded  their  own  private  de- 
votions— no  mafs  was  faying — till  the  lady 
rofe,  kiffed  the  fteps,  and  bathed  them  with 
her  tears,  mingled  with  fobs  of  no  affected 
or  hypocritical  penitence  I  am  fure.  Retiring 
afterwards  to  her  own  feat,  where  {he  waited 
with  others  the  commencement  of  the  facred 
office,  having  extinguifhed  her  candle,  and  ap- 
parently lighted  her  heart ;  I  felt  mine  quite 
penetrated  by  her  behaviour,  and  fancied  her 
like  our  firft  parent  defcribed  by  Milton  in 
the  fame  manner : 

To  confefs 

Humbly  her  faults,  and  pardon  beg ;  with  tears 
Watering  the  ground,  and  with  her  fighs  the  air 
Frequenting,  fent  from  heart  contrite,  in  fign 
Of  forrow  unfeign'd,  and  humiliation  meek. 

Let  not  this  ftory,  however,  miflead  any 
one  to  think  that  more  general  decorum  or 
true  devotion  can  be  found  in  churches  of  the 
Romifh  perfuafiOn  than  in  ours — quite  the  re- 
verfe.  This  burft  of  penitential  piety  was 
in  itfelf  an  indecorous  thing;  but  it  is  the 
nature  and  genius  of  the  people  not  to  mind 
6  fmall 


30  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

fmall  matters.  Dogs  are  fufFered  to  rim 
about  and  dirty  the  churches  all  the  time 
divine  fervice  is  performing  ;  while  the  crying 
of  babies,  and  the  moft  indecent  methods 
taken  by  the  women  to  pacify  them,  give  one 
ftill  jufter  offence.  There  is  no  treading  for 
fpittle  and  naftinefs  of  one  fort  or  another,  in 
all  the  churches  of  Italy,  whofe  inhabitants 
allow  the  filthinefs  of  Naples,  but  endeavour 
to  juftify  the  diforders  of  other  cities  ;  though 
I  do  believe  nothing  ever  equalled  the  Chiefa 
de  Cavalieri  at  Pifa,  in  any  Chriftian  land. 
Santa  Giuftina  at  Padua,  the  Redentore  at 
Venice,  St  Peter's  at  Rome,  and  fome  of  the 
lead  frequented  churches  at  Milan,  are  excep- 
tions ;  they  are  kept  very  clean,  and  do  not, 
by  the  fcandalous  neglect  of  thofe  appointed 
to  keep  them,  difgrace  the  beauty  of  their 
buildings. 

Here  has,  however,  been  a  dreadful  acci- 
dent which  puts  fuch  flight  confiderations  out 
of  one's  head.  A  Friar  has  killed  a  woman 
in  the  church  juft  by  the  Crocelle  inn,  for 
having  refufed  him  favours  he  fufpected  fhe 
had  granted  to  another.  No  ftep  is  taken 
though  towards  punifhing  the  murderer,  be- 

caufe 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.          31 

caufe  he  is  religiofo^  e  dlp'iu  cav alter c.  What 
a  miracle  that  more  fuch  outrages  are  not 
daily  committed  in  a  country  where  profeffion 
of  fanctity,  and  real  high  birth,  are  protections 
from  law  and  juftice !  Surely  nothing  but 
perfect  fobriety  and  great  goodnefs  of  difpo- 
fition  can  be  alleged  as  a  reafon  why  worfe 
is  not  done  every  day.  I  faid  fo  to  a  gentle- 
man juft  now,  who  afllired  me  the  criminal 
would  not  efcape  very  fevere  caftigation  ;  and 
that  perhaps  the  convent  would  inflict  fuch 
feverities  upon  that  gentleman  as  would  amply 
fupply  the  want  of  activity  in  the  exertion 
of  civil  power. 

It  is  a  ftupid  thing  not  to  mention  the 
common  drefs  of  the  ordinary  women  here, 
which  ladies  likewife  adopt,  if  they  venture 
out  on  foot,  defiring  not  to  be  known.  Two 
black  filk  petticoats  then  ferve  entirely  to  con- 
ceal their  whole  figure  ;  as  when  both  are 
tied  round  their  waift,  one  is  fuddenly  turned 
up,  and  as  they  pull  it  quick  over  their  heads, 
a  loofe  trimming  of  narrow  black  gauze  drops 
over  the  face,  while  a  hook  and  eye  fattens 
all  clofe  under  the  chin,  and  gives  them  an 
air  not  unlike  our  country  wenches,  who 
4  throw 


32  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

throw  the  gown  tail  over  their  heads,  to  pro*  ' 
ted  them  from  a  fummer's  fhowen     The  ho- 
liday drefles  mean  time  of  the  peafants  round 
Naples,  are  very  rich  and  cumberfome.     One 
often  fees  a  great  coarfe  raw-boned  fellow  on 
a  Sunday,  panting  for  heat  under  a  thick  blue 
velvet  coat  comically  enough  ;    the   females 
in  a  fcarlet  cloth  petticoat,  with  a  broad  gold 
lace  at  the  bottom,  a  jacket  open  before,  but 
charged  with  heavy  ornaments,  and  the  head 
not  unbecomingly  drefled  with  an  embroide- 
red handkerchief  from  Turkey,  exactly  as  one 
fees  them  reprefented  here  in  prints,  which 
they  fell  dear  enough,  God  knows ;  and  afk, 
as  I  am  informed  by  the  purchafers,  not  twice 
or  thrice,   but  four  or  five  times  more  than 
at   laft   they  take,  as  indeed  for  every  thing 
one  buys  here :  One  portrait  is  better,  how- 
ever, than    a  thoufand  words,    when    fingle 
figures  are  to  be  delineated  ;  but  of  the  Grotta 
del  Cane,  defcription   gives  a  completer  idea 
than  drawing.     Both  are  perhaps  nearly  un- 
necefTary  indeed,  when  fpeaking  of  a  place  fo 
often    and    fo   accurately   defcribed.      What 
furprifed  me  moft  among  the  ceremonies  of 
this  extraordinary  place  was,  that  the  pent  up 

vapour 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.          33 

vapour  flint  in  an  excavation  of  the  rock, 
fhould,  upon  opening  the  door,  gradually 
move  forwards  a  few  yards,  but  not  rile  up 
above  a  foot  from  the  furface,  nor,  by  what 
I  could  obferve,  ever  diffipate  in  air  ;  I  think 
we  left  it  hovering  over  the  favourite  fpot, 
when  the  poor  cur's  nofe  had  been  forcibly 
held  in  it  for  a  minute  or  two,  but  he  took 
care  after  his  recovery  to  keep  a  very  judi- 
cious diftance.  Sporting  with  animal  life  is 
always  highly  offenfive  ;  and  the  fellow's  ac- 
count that  his  dog  was  ufed  to  the  operation, 
and  had  already  gone  through  it  eight  times, 
that  it  did  him  no  harm,  &c.  I  confidered  as 
words  ufed  merely  to  quiet  our  impatience  of 
the  experiment,  which  is  infinitely  more  amu- 
fing  when  tried  upon  a  lighted  flambeau,  ex- 
tinguifhing  it  moft  completely  in  a  moment. 
What  connection  there  is  between  flame  and 
vitality,  thofe  who  know  more  of  the  matter 
than  I  do,  muft  expound.  Certain  it  is,  that 
many  forts  of  vapour  are  equally  fatal  to  both  ; 
and  where  fermentation  is  either  going  for- 
ward, or  has  lately  been,  people  accuftomed 
to  fuch  matters  always  try  with  a  candle  whe- 
ther the  calk  is  approachable  by  man  or  not ; 
VOL.  II.  D  and 


34  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

and  I  once  faw  a  terrifying  accident  arife  in  z 
great  brewhoufe,  from  the  headftrong  ftupi- 
dity  of  a  workman  who  would  go  down  inta 
a  vat,  the  contents  of  which  had  lately  been 
drawn  off,  without  fending  his  proper  prse- 
curfor  the  candle,  to  enquire  if  all  was  fafe. 
The  confequence  was  half  expected  by  his 
companions,  who  hearing  him  drop  off  the 
fteps,  and  fall  flat  to  the  bottom,  began  in- 
ftantly  hooking  him  up  again,  but  there  were 
no  figns  of  life  j  fome  ran  for  their  mafter, 
others  for  a  furgeon,  but  we  were  neareft  at 
hand,  and  recollecting  what  one  had  read  of 
the  recovery  of  dogs  at  Naples,  by  tolling 
them  fuddenly  into  the  lake  Agnano,  we 
made  the  men  carry  their  patient  to  the  cooler, 
and  plunging  him  over  head  and  ears,  re- 
ftored  his  life,  exactly  in  the  manner  of  the 
Grotta  del  Cane  experiment,  which  fucceeded 
ib  completely  in  this  fellow's  cafe,  I  remember,, 
that  waking  after  the  temporary  fufpenfion,. 
we  had  much  ado  to  imprefs  fo  infenfible  a 
mortal  with  a  due  fenfe  of  the  d'anger  his 
rafhnefs  had  incurred. 

But  it  is  time  to  tell  of  Herculaneum,  Pom- 

peia,  and  Portici ;  of  a  theatre,  the  fcene  of 

7 


JOURNEY   THROUGH    ITALY.          35 

gaiety  and  pleafure,  overwhelmed  by  torrents 
of  liquid  fire!  the  inhabitants  of  a  whole  town 
furprifed  by  immediate  and  unavoidable  de- 
ftruclion !  Where  that  very  town  indeed  was 
built  with  the  lava  produced  by  former  erup- 
tions, one  would  think  it  fcarce  poflible  that  fuch 
calamities  could  be  totally  unexpe&ed  ; — but 
no  matter,  life  muft  go  on,  though  we  all  know 
death  is  coming  ; — fo  the  bread  was  baking  iri 
their  ovens,  the  meat  was  fmoking  on  their 
dimes,  fome  of  their  wine  already  decanted  for 
ufe,  the  reft  in  large  jars  (amphora)^  now 
petrified  with  their  contents  infide,  and  fixed 
to  the  walls  of  the  cellars  in  which  they  ftand. 
— How  dreadful  are  the  thoughts  which  fuch 
a  fight  fuggefts  !  how  very  horrible  the  cer- 
tainty, that  fuch  a  fcene  may  be  all  acted  over 
again  to-morrow  ;  and  that  we,  who  to-day 
are  fpedators,  may  become  fpectacles  to  tra- 
vellers of  a  fucceeding  century,  who  miftaking 
our  bones  for  thofe  of  the  Neapolitans,  may 
carry  fome  of  them  to  their  native  country 
back  again  perhaps ;  as  it  came  into  my  head 
that  a  French  gentleman  was  doing,  when  I 
faw  him  put  a  human  bone  into  his  pocket, 
this  morning,  and  told  him  I  hoped  be  had 
D  2  got 


^6  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

got  the  jaw  of  a  Gaulifh  officer,  inftead  of  a 
Roman  folciier,  for  future  reflections  to  ener- 
gize upon.  Of  all  fmgle  objects  offered  here 
to  one's  contemplation,  none  are  more  ftriking 
than  a  woman's  foot,  the  print  of  her  foot  I 
mean,  taken  apparently  in  the  very  act  of 
running  from  the  river  of  melted  minerals  that 
furrounded  her,  and  which  now  ferves  as  an 
intaglio  to  commemorate  the  mifery  it  caufed. 
Another  melancholy  proof  of  what  needs  no 
confirmation,  is  the  impreffion  of  a  fick  fe- 
male, known  to  be  fo  from  \hzjlole  five  wore, 
a  drapery  peculiar  to  the  fex  ;  her  bed,  con- 
verted into  a  fubftance  like  plafter  of  Paris, 
ftill  retains  the  form  and  covering  of  her  who 
perifhed  quietly  upon  it,  without  ever  making 
even  an  effort  to  efcape. 

That  one  of  thefe  towns  is  crufhed,  or 
rather  buried,  under  loads  of  heavy  lava,  and  is 
therefore  difficult  to  difentangle,  all  have 
heard  ;  that  Pompeia  is  only  lightly  covered 
with  pumice-ftones  and  afhes,  is  new  to  no- 
body ;  it  is  in  the  power,  as  a  Venetian  gen- 
tleman faid  angrily,  of  an  Englifh  hen  and 
chickens  to  fcratch  it  open  in  a  week,  though 
thefe  lazy  Neapolitans  will  leave  it  not  half 

diflodgedj 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.          37 

diflodged,  before  a  new  eruption  fwallows  all 
again. 

Our  vifit  to  Portici  was  more  than  equally 
provoking  in  the  fame  way  ;  to  fee  de- 
polited  there  all  the  antiques  which  are  fo 
curious  in  themfelves,  fo  very  valuable  when 
confidered  as  fpecimens  of  ancient  art,  and  of 
the  mode  of  living  pradifed  in  ancient  Rome, 
kept  at  a  place  where  I  do  fmcerely  believe 
they  will  be  again  overwhelmed  and  con- 
founded among  the  king  of  Naples's  furniture, 
to  the  great  torture  of  future  antiquarians,  and 
to  the  difgrace  of  prefent  infenfibility. 

The  triclinia  2j\&Jlibadia  ufed  at  fupper  by 
the  old  Romans  prove  the  verfes  which  our 
critics  have  been  working  at  fo  long,  to  have 
been  at  leaft  well  explained  by  them,  and  do 
infinite  Honour  to  thofe  who,  without  the  ad- 
vantage of  feeing  how  the  utenfils  were  con- 
ftructed,  knew  perfectly  well  their  way  of  car- 
rying on  life,  from  their  acquaintance  with  a 
language  long  fmce  dead,  and  I  am  fure  buried 
under  a  heap  of  rubbifh  heavier  and  more 
difficult  to  remove  than  all  the  lava  heaped'  on 
Herculaneum  ;  but  it  is  a  fource  of  perpetual 
wonder,  and  let  me  add  perpetual  picafure  too, 
to  know  that  Cicero,  and  Virgil,  and  Horace, 
D3  if 

5  3  5 1 1 


38  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

if  alive,  would  find  their  writings  as  well  im- 
derftood,  ay  'and  as  perfectly  tafted,  by  the 
fcholars  of  Paris  and  London,  as  they  had  ever 
been  by  their  own  old  literary  acquaintance. 

The  fight  of  jthe  curuk  chair  was  charm- 
ing, and  one  thought  of  old  Papyri  us, 
his  long  white  beard,  and  ivory  flick  with 
which  he  reproved  the  infolence  of  a  Gaulilli 
foldier,  who,  when  Brenrms  entered  the  city, 
feeing  all  thofe  venerable  fenators  fitting  in  a 
row,  took  them  for  inanimate  figures,  and 
ftroked  Papyrius's  beard,  to  feel  whether  he 
was  alive  or  no.  The  curiile  chair  was  fo 
called  from  currits  a.  chariot,  and  this  we  ex- 
amined had  holes  bored  in  it,  where  it  had 
been  fixed  to  the  car :  I  do  think  there  is  juft 
fuch  a  one  in  the  Britifli  Mufaeum,  but  that 
did  not  much  engage  my  attention,  fo  great  is 
the  influence  of  locality  upon  the  mind.  The 
•way  in  which  they  decypher  the  old  MSS. 
here  likewife  is  pretty  and  curious,  and  re- 
quires infinite  patience,  which  as  far  as  rhey 
have  gone  has  not  been  well  repaid ;  the 
operation  laboriofins  eft  quam  Sibyllas  folia  col- 
ligtre  *,  to  ufe  the  words  of  Politian,  whofe 

*  More  laborious  than  gathering  up  the  Sibyls  leaves. 

right 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.          39 

right  name  I  learned  at  Florence  to  be  Mcfler 
Angela  dl  Mo?ite  Ptilciano, 

May  not,  however,  a  more  important  con- 
fequence  than  any  yet  mentioned  be  found 
deducible  from  what  we  have  feen  this  day? 
for  if  ytfus  Chrift  condefcended  to  ufe  the 
Roman,  or  commonly  adopted  cuftom  of  flip- 
ping on  a  triclinium  (as  it  is  plain  he  did  by 
the  recumbent  pofture  of  St.  John),  when 
eating  the  Paflbver  for  the  laft  time  with  his 
difciples  at  Jerufalem ;  that  fed"  of  Chriftians 
called  Romanifts  ought  fure  to  be  the  lafl^ 
notjirft,  to  exclude  from  faivation  all  fuch  of 
their  brethren  as  do  not  receive  the  Lord's 
Supper  precifely  in  their  'way  ;  when  nothing 
can  be  clearer,  from  our  blefTed  Saviour's  ex- 
ample, than  that  he  thought  old  forms,  if 
laudable,  not  neceflary  or  effential  to  the  well- 
performing  a  devotional  rite  ;  feeing  that  to 
eat  the  Paflbver  according  to  original  inftitu- 
tion,  thofe  who  communicated  were  bound  to 
take  \\.Jlanding^  and  with  a  flaff  in  their  hands 
befide  as  expreflive  of  more  hade. 

The  Chriftmas  feafon  here  at  Naples  is  very 

pleafingly  obferved  ;  the  Italians  are  peculiarly 

ingenious  in  adorning  their  fhops  I  think,  and 

D  4  fetting 


4o  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

fetting  out  their  wares ;  every  grocer,  fruit- 
erer, &c.  now  mingles  orange,  and  lemon, 
arid  myrtle  leaves,  among  the  goods  expofed 
at  his  door,  as  we  do  greens  in  the  churches 
of  England,  but  with  infinitely  more  tafte ;  and 
this  device  produces  a  very  fine  effedt  upon  the 
whole,  as  one  drives  along  la  Strada  del  Toledo, 
which  all  morning  looks  fhowy  from  thefe 
decorations,  and  all  evening  fplendid  from  the 
profufion  of  torches,  flambeaux,  &c.  that 
fhine  with  lefs  regularity  indeed,  but  with 
more  luftre  and  greater  appearance  of  expen- 
five  gaiety,  than  our  neat,  clean,  fteady  London 
lamps.  Some  odd,  pretty,  moveable  cofTee- 
houfes  too,  or  lemonade-iliops,  fet  on  wheels, 
and  adorned,  according  to  the  pofleflbr's  tafte, 
with  gilding,  painting,  &c.  and  covered  with 
ices,  orgeats,  and  other  refreshments,  as  in 
emulation  each  of  the  other,  and  in  a  Strange 
variety  of  fhapes  and  forms  too,  exquifitely 
well  imagined  for  the  moft  partr — help  for- 
ward the  finery  of  Naples  exceedingly  :  I 
have  counted  thirty  of  thefe  galante  mops  on 
each  fide  the  Street,  which,  with  their  neceffary 
illuminations,  make  a  brilliant  figure  by  candle- 
light, till  twelve  o'clock,  when  all  the  mow  is 
over,  arid  every  body  put  out  their  lights  and 

quietly 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.          41 

quietly  lie  down  to  reft.  Till  that  hour,  how- 
ever, few  things  can  exceed  the  tumultuous 
merriment  of  Naples,  while  volanfes,  or  run- 
ning footmen,  drefled  like  tumhlers  before  a 
fhow,  precede  all  carriages  of  diftindlion,  and 
endeavour  to  keep  the  people  from  being  run 
over;  yet  whilft  they  are  liftening  to  Polici- 
nello's  jokes,  or  to  fome  fuch  ftreet  orator  as 
Dr.  Moore  defcribes  with  equal  truth  and  hu- 
mour, they  often  get  crufhed  and  killed ;  yet, 
as  Pope  fays, 

See  fome  ftrange  comfort  ev'ry  ftate  attend : — 

The  La'zarom  who  has  his  child  run  over  by 
the  coach  of  a  man  of  quality,  has  a  regular 
claim  upon  him  for  no  lefs  than  twelve  carlincs 
(about  five  millings  Englifh)  ;  if  it  is  his  wife 
that  meets  with  the  accident,  he  gets  two 
ducats,  live  or  die;  and  for  the  mafter  of  the 
family  (houfe  he  has  none)  three  is  the  regular 
compenfation  ;  and  no  words  pafs  here  about 
trifles.  Truth  is,  human  life  is  lower  rated  in 
all  parts  of  Italy  than  with  us ;  they  think 
nothing  of  an  individual,  but  fee  him  periili 
(excepting  by  the  hand  of  juftice)  as  a  cat 
or  dog.  A  young  man  fell  from  our  car- 
riage at  Milan  one  evening ;  he  was  not  a 

fervant 


42  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

fervant  of  ours,  but  a  friend  which,  after  we  were 
gone  home,  the  coachman  had  picked  up  to  go 
with  him  to  the  fireworks  which  were  exhi- 
bited that  night  near  the  Corfo  :  there  was  a 
crowd  and  an  embarras,  and  the  fellow  tum- 
bled off  and  died  upon  the  fpot,  and  nobody 
even  fpoke,  or  I  believe  thought  about  the 
matter,  except  one  woman,  who  fuppofed  that 
he  had  negleded  to  crofs  himfelf  when  he  got 
up  behind. 

The  works  of  art  here  at  Naples  are  neither 
very  numerous  nor  very  excellent :  I  have 
feen  the  vaunted  prefent  of  porcelain  intended 
for  the  king  of  England,  in  return  for  fome 
cannon  prefented  by  him  to  this  court ;  and 
think  it  more  entertaining  in  its  defign  than 
admirable  as  a  manufacture.  Every  dim  and 
plate,  however,  being  the  portrait  as  one  may 
fay  of  fome  famous  Etrufcan  vafe,  or  other 
antique,  dug  out  of  the  ruins  of  thefe  newly- 
difcovered  cities,  with  an  account  of  its  fup- 
pofed ftory  engraved  neatly  round  the  figure, 
makes  it  interefting  and  elegant,  and  worthy 
enough  of  one  prince  to  accept,  and  another 
to  beftow. 

There  is  a  work  of  art,  however,  peculiar 
to  this  city,  ar.d  attempted  in  no  other ;  on 

which 


JOURNEY   THROUGH   ITALY.          43 

which  furprifing  fums  of  money  are  laviflied 
by  many  of  the  inhabitants,  who  connect  or 
aflbciate  to  this  amufement  ideas  of  piety  and 
devotion  :  the  thing  when  finimed  is  called  a 
prcfepio,  and  is  compofed  in  honour  of  this 
facred  feafon,  after  which  all  is  taken  to 
pieces,  and  arranged  after  a  different  manner 
next  year.  In  many  houfes  a  room,  in  fome 
a  whole  fuite  of  apartments,  in  others  the  ter- 
race upon  the  houfe-top,  is  dedicated  to  this 
very  uncommon  mow;  confiding  of  a  mi- 
niature reprefentation  in  fycamore  wood,  pro- 
perly coloured,  of  the  houfe  at  Bethlehem, 
with  the  bleffed  Virgin,  St.  Jofeph,  and  our 
Saviour  in  the  manger,  with  attendant  an- 
gels, &c.  as  in  pictures  of  the  nativity  ;  the 
figures  are  about  fix  inches  high,  and  drefied 
with  the  moft  exact  propriety.  This  how- 
ever, though  the  principal  thing  intended  to 
attract  fpectators'  notice,  is  kept  back,  fo  that 
fometimes  I  fcarcely  faw  it  at  all ;  while  a  ge- 
neral and  excellent  landfcape,  with  figures  of 
men  at  work,  women  drefling  dinner,  a 
long  road  in  real  gravel,  with  rocks,  hills, 
rivers,  cattle,  camels,  every  thing  that  can  be 
imagined,  fill  the  other  rooms,  fo  happily  dif- 

pofed 


44  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

pofed  too  for  the  moft  part,  the  light  intro- 
duced fo  artfully,  the  perfpedive  kept  fo  fur- 
prifmgly ! — one  wonders  and  cries  out,  it  is 
certainly  but  a  baby-houfe  at  beft  j  yet  ma- 
naged by  people  whofe  heads  naturally  turned 
towards  architecture  and  defign,  give  them 
power  thus  to  defy  a  traveller  not  to  feel  de- 
lighted with  the  general  effect ;  while  if  every 
fmgle  figure  is  not  capitally  executed,  and 
nicely  exprefled  befide,  the  proprietor  is  truly 
miferable,  and  will  cut  a  new  cow,  or  vary  the 
horfe's  attitude,  againft  next  Chriftmas  coute 
qui  coute :  and  perhaps  I  fhould  not  have  faid 
fo  much  about  the  matter,  if  there  had  not 
been  {hewn  me  within  this  lafl  week,  prefepios 
which  have  coft  their  poffeflbrs  fifteen  hundred 
or  two  thoufand  Englim  pounds;  and,  rather 
than  relinquifh  or  fell  them,  many  families  have 
gone  to  ruin :  I  have  wrote  the  fums  down  in 
letters,  not  figures,  for  fear  of  the  poffibility  of 
a  miftake.  One  of  thefe  playthings  had  the 
journey  of  the  three  kings  reprefented  in  it, 
and  the  prefents  were  all  of  real  gold  and 
filver  finely  worked  ;  nothing  could  be  better 
or  more  livelily  finimed. — "  But,  Sir,"  faid  I, 
"  why  do  you  drefs  up  one  of  the  Wife  Men 

with 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.  45 
Xvith  a  turban  and  crefcent^  fix  hundred  years 
before  the  birth  of  Mahomet,  who  firft  put 
that  mark  in  the  forehead  of  his  followers  ? 
The  eaftern  Magi  were  not  "Turks ;  this  is  a 
breach  of  coftiime"  My  gentleman  paufed, 
and  thanked  me  ;  faid  he  would  enquire  if 
there  was  nothing  heretical  in  the  objection  ; 
and  if  all  was  right,  it  mould  be  changed 
next  year  without  fail. 

A  young  lady  here  of  Englifh  parents, 
juft  ten  years  old,  afked  me,  very  pertinently, 
"  Why  this  pretty  fight  was  called  a  Pre- 
fepw  ?"  but  faid  flie  fuddenly,  anfwering 
herielf,  "  I  fuppofe  it  is  becaufe  it  is  pre- 
ceptive :"  fuch  a  miftake  was  more  valuable 
than  knowledge,  and  gave  me  great  efteem 
of  her  underftanding ;  the  little  girl's  name 
was  Zaffory. 

The  King's  menagerie  is  neither  rich  in 
animals,  nor  particularly  well  kept:  I  won- 
der a  man  of  his  character  and  difpofition 
mould  not  delight  in  pofTefTmg  a  very  fine 
one.  The  bears  however  were  as  tame  as 
lapdogs;  there  was  a  wolf  too,  larger  than 
ever  I  faw  a  wolf,  and  an  elephant  that  played 
a  hundred  tricks  at  the  command  of  his 

keeper, 


46  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

keeper,  little  lefs   a  beaft  than  he;    but  as 
Pope  fays,  after  Horace, 

Let  bear  or  elephant  be  e'er  fo  white, 
The  people  fure,  the  people  are  the  fight. 

Let  us  then  tell  about  the  two  aflemblies, 
o  fia  conmrfazloni)  where  one  goes  in  fearch 
of  amufement  as  to  the  rooms  of  Bath  or 
Tunbridge  exactly  ;  only  that  one  of  thefe 
places  is  devoted  to  the  nobllta^  the  other  is 
called  de  buoni  amid ;  and  fuch  is  the  ftate  of 
fubordination  in  this  country,  that  though 
the  great  people  may  come  among  the  little 
ones,  and  be  fure  of  the  groffeft  adulation, 
a  merchant's  wife,  fhining  in  diamonds, 
being  obliged  to  ftand  up  reverentially  before 
the  chair  of  a  countefs,  who  does  her  the 
honour  to  fpeak  to  her ;  the  poor  amid  are 
totally  excluded  from  the  fubfcription  of  the 
nobles,  nor  dare  even  to  return  the  falutation 
of  a  fuperior,  mould  a  good-natured  perfon 
of  that  rank  be  tempted,  from  frequently  fee- 
ing them  at  the  rooms,  to  give  them  a  kind 
nod  in  the  ftreet  or  elfewhere.  All  this  feems 
comical  enough  to  us,  and  I  had  much  ado 
to  look  grave,  while  a  beautiful  and  well- 
educated 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.          47 

educated  wife  of  a  rich  banker  here,  confefled 
herfelf  not  fit  company  for  an  ignorant  mean- 
looking  woman  of  quality.  But  though  fuch 
unintelligible  dodrines  make  one  for  a  mo- 
ment amamed  both  of  one's  fex  and  fpecies, 
that  lady's  knowledge  of  various  languages, 
her  numerous  accomplifhments  in  a  thoufand 
methods  of  paffing  time  away  with  innocent 
elegance,  and  a  fort  of  ftudied  addrefs  never 
obferved  in  Italy  before,  gave  me  infinite 
delight  in  her  fociety,  and  daily  increafed 
my  fufpicion  that  me  was  a  foreigner,  till 
nearer  intimacy  difcovered  her  a  German 
Lutheran,  with  a  fmgular  head  of  thick 
blonde  hair,  fo  unlike  thofe  I  fee  around  me; 
We  grew  daily  better  acquainted,  and  (he 
{hewed  me — but  not  indignantly  at  all — fome 
ladies  from  the  higher  afiembly  fitting  among 
thefe,  very  low  drefled  indeed,  a  knotting- 
bag  and  counters  in  their  lap,  to  mew  their 
contempt  of  the  company ;  while  fuch  as 
fpoke  to  them  flood  before  their  feat,  like 
children  before  a  governefs  in  England,  as 
long  as  the  eonverfation  lafted. 

I  inquired  if  the  men  confined  their  ad- 
drefles  wholly  to  their  own  rank  ?  She  faid, 
beauty  often  broke  the  barrier,  and  when 

a  pretty 


48  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

a  pretty  woman  of  the  fecond  rank  got  a 
cavalier  fervcnte  of  the  firft,  much  happinefs 
and  much  distinction  was  the  confequence : 
but  alas  !  he  will  not  even  try  to  pufh  her  up 
among  the  people  of  fafhion,  and  when  he 
meets  any  is  fure  to  look  afhamed  of  his 
miftrefs ;  fo  that  her  felicity  can  confift  only 
in  triumphing  over  equals,  for  to  rival  a 
fuperior  is  here  an  impoffibility. 

Our  Duke  and  Dutchefs  of  Cumberland 
have  made  all  Naples  adore  them  though,  by 
going  richly  drefTed,  and  behaving  with  in- 
finite courtefy  and  good-humour,  at  an  af- 
fembly  or  ball  given  in  the  lower  rooms^  as 
the  Englifh  comically  call  them.  A  young 
Palermitan  prince  applauded  them  for  it  ex- 
ceedingly ;  fo  I  took  the  liberty  to  exprefs 
my  wonder.  "  Oh,"  replied  he,  "  we  are  not 
ignorant  how  much  Engliih  manners  differ 
from  our  own :  I  have  already,  though  but 
juft  eighteen  years  old,  as  fovereign  of  my 
own  Hate,  under  the  King  of  both  Sicilies, 
condemned  a  man  to  death  bccanfe  he  was  a 
rafcal,  but  the  law  and  the  people  govern 
in  England  I  know."  My  defire  of  hearing 
about  Sicily,  which  we  could  not  contrive  to 
vifit,  made  me  happy  to  cultivate  Prince 

VentU 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.         49 

Ventimiglia's  acquaintance ;  he  was  very 
ftudious,  very  learned  of  his  age,  and  un- 
commonly clever :  told  me  of  the  antiquities 
his  illand  had  to  boaft,  with  great  intelli- 
gence, and  a  furprifmg  knowledge  of  ancient 
hiftory. 

We  wimed  to  have  made  a  party  to  go  in 
the  fame  company  to  Pseftum,  but  my  cow- 
ardice kept  me  at  home,  fo  bad  was  the  account 
of  the  roads  and  accommodation ;  though 
Abate  Bianconi  of  Milan,  for  whom  I  have  fo 
much  efleem,  bid  me  remember  to  look  at  the 
buildings  there  attentively  ;  adding,  that  they 
were  better  worth  our  obfervation  than  all 
the  boafted  antiquities  at  Rome  ;  "  as  they 
had  feen  (faid  he)  the  original  foundation 
of  her  empire,  and  outlived  its  decay :  that 
they  had  feen  her  fecond  birth  too,  and 
power  under  fome  of  her  pontiffs  over  all 
Europe  about  fix  or  feven  centuries  ago ;  and 
that  they  would  now  probably  remain  till  all 
that  was  likewiie  abolifhed,  with  only  flight 
traces  left  behind  to  fhew  \\\2&fuimus,  &c," 

How  mortifying  it  is  to  go  home  and  never 
fee  this  Paeftum !  Prince  Ventimiglia  went 
there  with  Mr.  Cox  ;  he  profefles  his  inten- 
tion foon  to  vifit  England,  concerning  the 

VOL.  II.  K  man- 


50  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

manners  and  cuftoms  of  which  he  is  very  in- 
quifitive,  and  not  ill-verfed  in  the  language; 
but  books  drop  oddly  into  people's  hands: 
This  gentleman  commended  Ambrofe  Phi- 
lips's  Paftorals,  and  I  remember  the  Floren- 
tines feemed  ftrangely  imprefled  with  the  merit 
of  the  other  Philips  as  a  poet.  Bonducci  has 
tranflated  his  Cyder,  and  calls  him  tmulous 
of  ''Milton,  in  good  time !  but  it  is  difficult 
to  diftinguifh  jeft  from  earneft  in  a  foreigrt 
language. 

I  wiH  not,  if  I  can  help  it,  lofe  fight  of 
our  Sicilian  however,  till  I  have  made  him 
tell  me  fomething  about  Dionyfms's  Ear, 
about  the  eruptions  of  -/Etna,  and  the  Caf- 
tagno  a  cetito  cavalli^  which,  he  protefts,  is 
not  magnified  by  Brydone. 

It  is  wonderfully  mortifying  to  think  how 
little  information  after  all  can  be  obtained  of 
any  thing  new  or  any  thing  ftrange,  though 
fo  far  from  one's  own  country.  What  I 
picked  up  moft  curious  and  diverting  from 
our  converfation,  was  his  expreilion  of  fur- 
prife,  when  at  our  houfe  one  day  he  read  a 
letter  from  his  mother,  telling  him  that  fuch 
a  lady,  naming  her,  remained  ftill  unmarried, 
and  even  unbetrothed,  though  now  paft  ten 
1 2  years 


JOCRNEY   THROUGH   ITALY.         $t 

years  old.  "  She  will,"  faid  I,  "  perhaps 
break  through  old  cuftoms,  and  chufe  for 
herfelf,  as  fhe  is  an  orphan,  and  has  no  one 
whom  fhe  need  confult." — "  Impofiible, 
Madam!"  was  the  reply. — u  But  tell  me, 
Prince,  for  information's  fake,  if  fuch  a  lady, 
this  girl  for  example,  mould  venture  to 
aflert  the  rights  of  humanity,  and  make  a 
choice  fomewhat  unufual,  what  'would  come 
of  it  ?" — "  Why  nothing  in  the  world  would 
come  of  it,"  anfwered  he  ;  "  the  lafs  would  be 
immediately  at  liberty  again,  for  no  man  fo 
circumftanced  could  be  permitted  to  leave  the 
country  alfoe  you  know,  nor  would  her  folly 
benefit  his  family  at  all,  as  her  eftate  would 
be  immediately  adjudged  to  the  next  hein 
No  perfon  of  inferior  rank  in  our  country 
would  therefore,  unlefs  abfolutely  mad,  fet 
his  life  to  hazard  for  the  fake  of  a  frolic,  the 
event  of  which  is  fo  well  known  before- 
hand;—lefs  ftill,  becaufe,  if  loi)e  be  in.  the 
cafe,  all  perfo?ial  attachment  may  be  fully 
gratified,  only  let  her  but  be  once  legally 
married  to  a  man  every  way  her  equal.*1 
Could  one  help  recollecting  Fielding's  fong  in 
tke  Virgin  unmafked  ?  who  fays, 

E  2  For 


5*  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

For  now  I've  found  out  that  as  Michaelmas  day 
Is  ftill  the  forerunner  of  Lammas; 

So  wedding  another  is  juft  the  right  way 
To  get  at  my  dear  Mr.  Thomas. 

I  will  mention  another  talk  I  had  with  a 
Sicilian  lady.  We  met  at  the  houfe  of  the 
Swedifh  minifter,  Monfieur  Andre,  uncle  to 
the  lamented  officer  who  perifhed  in  our  fo- 
vereign's  fervice  in  America ;  and  while  the 
reft  of  the  company  were  entertaining  them- 
felves  with  cards  and  mufic,  I  began  laughing 
in  myfelfat  hearing  the  gentleman  and  lady 
who  fat  next  me,  called  by  others  Don  Ra- 
phael and  Donna  Camilla,  becaufe  thofe  two 
names  bring  Gil  Bias  into  one's  head.  Their 
agreeable  and  interefting  converfation  how- 
ever foon  gave  my  mind  a  more  ferious  turn 
when  difcourfing  on  the  liberal  premiums  now 
offered  by  the  King  of  Naples  to  thofe  who 
are  willing  to  rebuild  and  repeople  Meffina. 
Donna  Camilla  politely  introduced  me  to  a 
very  fick  but  pleafing-lookmg  lady,  who  fhe 
faid  was  going  to  return  thither:  at  which 
/he,  ftarting,  cried,  "  Oh  God  forbid,  my 
dear  friend  !"  in  an  accent  that  made  me  think 
fhe'  had  already  differed  fomething  from  the 

concuf- 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.  53 

concuflions  that  overwhelmed  that  city  in  the 
year   1783.     Her  inviting  manner,   her  foft 
and  interefting  -  eyes,  whofe  languid  glances 
feemed  to  {hew  beauty  funk  jn  forrow,  and 
fpirit  opprefled  by  calamity,  engaged  my  ut- 
moft  attention,  while  Don  Raphael  prefled  her 
to  indulge  the  foreigner's  curiofity  with  fame 
particulars  of  the  diftreffes  {he    had  ihared. 
Her  own  feelings  were  all  fhe  could  relate  Ihe 
faid — and  thofe  confufedly.     "  You    fee  that 
girl  there,"  pointing  to  a  child  about  feven  or 
eight  years  old,  who  flood  liftening  to  the  harp- 
fichord :  "  fhe  efcaped !  I  cannot,  for  my  foul, 
guefs  how,   for  we  were  not  together  at  the 
time." — "  Where  were you^  madam,  at  the  mo~ 
ment  of  the  fatal  accident?"-"  Who?«*?"  and 
her  eyes  lighted  up  with  recollected  terror:  "  I 
was  in  the  nurfery  with  my  maid,  employed  in 
taking  ftains  out  of  fome  Bruflels  lace  upon 
a  brazier  ;  two   babies,  neither  of  them  four 
years  old,  playing  in  the  room.     The  eldeft 
boy,  dear  lad !  had  juft  left  us,  and  was  in 
his  father's  country-houfe.     The    day    grew 
fo  dark  all  on  a  fudden,  and  the  brazier — Oh, 
Lord  Jefus !  I  felt  the  brazier  flide  from  me, 
E  3  and 


54.  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

and  faw  it  run  down  the  long  room  on  its 
three  legs.  The  maid  fcreamed,  and  I  fhut 
my  eyes  and  knelt  at  a  chair.  We  thought 
all  over ;  but  my  hufband  came,  and  fnatch~ 
ing  me  up,  cried,  run,  run. — I  know  not 
how  nor  where,  but  all  amongft  falling 
boufes  it  was,  and  people  fhrieked  fo,  and 
there  w&sfucb  a  noife  !  My  poor  fon  !  he 
was  fifteen  years  old ;  he  tried  to  hold  me 
faft  in  the  crowd.  I  remember  kifling  him  : 
Dear  lad,  dear  lad  !  I  faid.  I  could  fpeaky///0 
(ben  :  but  the  throng  at  the  gate  !  Oh  that 
gate  I  Thoufands  at  once !  ay,  thoufands  ! 
thoufands  at  once :  and  my  poor  old  con- 
feflbr  too  !  I  knew  him  :  I  threw  my  arms 
about  his  aged  neck,  Padre  mio !  faid  I — • 
Padre  mto  !  Down  he  dropt,  a  great  ftone 
ftruck  his  ihoulder  ;  I  faw  it  coming,  and  my 
boy  pulled  me  ;  he  faved  my  life,  dear,  dear 
lad  !  But  the  craih  of  the  gate,  the  fcreams 
of  the  people,  the  heat^r-Oh  fuch  a  heat !  I 
felt  no  more  on't  though  ;  I  faw  no  more  on't; 
J  waked  in  bed,  this  girl  by  me,  and  her  father 
giving  me  cordials.  \Ve  were  on  ihipboard, 
they  told  me,  coming  to  Naples  to  my  bro- 
ther's houfe  here ;  and  do  you  think  I'll 
§ver  go  back  tbtre  again  f  No,  no  j  that's  a 

curft 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         55 

curft  place  ;  I  loft  my  fon  in  it.  Never •,  never 
will  I  fee  it  more  !  All  my  friends  try  to  per- 
fuade  me,  but  the  fight  of  it  would  do  my 
bufmefs.  If  my  poor  boy  were  alive  indeed ! 
but  be  !  ah,  poor  dear  lad  !  he  loved  his  mo- 
ther ;  he  held  me  fad — No,  no,  I'll  never  fee 
that  place  again:  God  has  curfed  it  now;  I 
am  fure  he  has." 

A  narrative  fo  melancholy,  fo  tender,  and 
fo  true,  could  not  fail  of  its  effedL  I  ran  for 
refuge  to  the  harpfichord,  where  a  lady  was 
fmging  divinely.  I  could  not  liften  though  : 
her  grateful  fweetnefs  who  told  the  difmal 
ftflry,  followed  me  thither :  me  had  feen  my 
ill-fupprefled  tears,  and  followed  to  embrace 
me.  The  tale  ihe  had  told  faddened  my  heart, 
and  the  news  we  heard  returning  to  the  Cro- 
celle  did  riot  contribute  to  lighten  its  weight, 
while  an  amiable  young  Englifhman,  who 
had  long  lain  ill  there,  was  now  breathing 
his  laft,  far  from  his  friends,  his  country,  or 
their  cuftoms  ;  all  eafily  difpenfed  with,  per- 
haps derided,  during  the  buftle  of  a  journey^ 
and  in  the  madnefs  of  fuperfluous  health  ;  but 
fure  to  be  fighed  after,  when  life's  laft  twi- 
light (huts  in  precipitately  clofer  and  clofer 
E  4  round 


56  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

round  a  man,  and  leaves  him  only  the  nearer 
objects  to  repofe  and  dwell  on. 

Such  was  Captain 's  fituation  !  he  had 

none  but  a  foreign  fervant  with  him.  We 
thought  it  might  footh  him  to  hear  "  Can  I 
do  any  thing  for  you^  Sir  f  in  an  Englifh 
voice :  fo  I  fent  my  maid  :  he  had  no  com- 
mands he  faid  ;  he  could  not  eat  the  jelly  fhe 
had  made  him  ;  he  wifhed  fome  clergyman 
could  be  found  that  he  might  fpeak  to  :  fuch 
a  one  was  vainly  enquired  for,  till  it  was  dif- 
covered  that  ill-health  had  driven  Mr.  Mentze 
to  Naples,  who  kindly  adminiftered  the  lad 
confolation  a  Chriftian  can  receive  ;  and  heard 
the  next  day,  when  confined  himfelf  to  bed, 
of  his  countryman's  being  properly  thruft 
by  the  banker  into  the  Buco  Proteftante  •  fo 
they  contemptuoufly  call  a  dirty  garden  one 
drives  by  in  this  town,  where  not  lefs  than  a 
hundred  people,  fmall  and  great,  from  our 
ifland,  annually  refort,  leaving  fifty  or  fixty 
thoufand  pounds  behind  them  at  a  moderate 
computation;  though  if  their  bodies  are  ob- 
liged to  take  perpetual  apartments  here,  no 
better  place  has  been  hitherto  provided  for 
them  than  this  kitchen  ground;  on  which 

grow 


JOURNEY    THROUGH  ITALY.          57 

grow  cabbages,  cauliflowers,  &c.  fold  to  their 
country  folks  for  double  price  I  trow,  the  re- 
maining part  of  the  feafon. 

Well !  well !  if  the  Neapolitans  do  bury 
Chriftians  like  dogs,  they  make  fome  fmgular 
compenfations  we  will  confefs,  by  nurfmg  dogs 
like  Chriftians.  A  very  veracious  man  in- 
formed me  yefter  morning,  that  his  poor 
wife  was  half  broken-hearted  at  hearing  fuch 
a  Countefs's  dog  was  run  over ;  "  for,"  faid 
hex  "  having  fuckled  the  pretty  creature  her- 
felf,  ,fhe  loved  it  like  one  of  her  children." 
I  bid  him  repeat  the  circumftance,  that  no 
miftake  might  be  made  :  he  did  fo  ;  but  fee- 
ing me  look  mocked,  or  afhamed,  or  fome- 
thing  he  did  not  like, — "  Why,  madam,"  faid 
the  fellow,  "  it  is  a  common  thing  enough 
for  ordinary  men's  wives  to  fuckle  the  lap- 
dogs  of  ladies  of  quality  :"  adding,  that  they 
were  paid  for  their  milk,  and  he  faw  no  harm, 
in  gratifying  one's  fupenors.  As  I  was  di£- 
pofed  to  fee  nothing  but  harm  in  difputing 
with  fuch  a  competitor,  our  conference  finim- 
ed  foon  ;  but  the  fa<3:  is  certain. 

Indeed  few  things  can  be  foolifher  than  to 
debate  the   propriety  of  cufloms  one   is   not 

bound 


5»  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

bound  to  obferve  or  comply  with.  If  you 
diflike  them,  the  remedy  is  eafy ;  turn  yours 
and  your  horfes  heads  the  other  way. 


20th  January  1786, 

Here  are  the  mod  excellent,  the  moft  in- 
comparable fifh  I  ever  eat ;  red  mullets,  large 
as  our  maycril,  and  of  fingularly  high  fla- 
vour; befides  the  calamaro,  or  ink-nfh,  a 
dainty  worthy  of  imperial  luxury  ;  almond 
and  even  apple  trees  if\  blofibm,  to  delight 
thofe  who  can  be  paid  for  coarfe  manners  and 
confined  notions  by  the  beauties  of  a  brilliant 
climate.  Here  are  all  the  hedges  in  blow  as 
you  drive  towards  Pozzuoli,  and  a  fnow  of 
white  May-flowers  cluftering  round  Virgil's 
tomb.  So  ftrong  was  the  fun's  heat  this  morn- 
ing, even  before  eleven  o'clock,  that  I  carried 
an  umbrella  to  defend  me  from  his  rays,  as  we 
fauntered  about  the  walks,  which  are  fpacious 
and  elegant,  laid  out  much  in  the  ftyle  of 
St.  James's  Park,  but  with  the  fea  on  one  fide 
of  you,  the  broad  flreet,  called  Ghiaja,  on  the 

other. 


JOURNEY    THROUGH  ITALY.          59 

other.  What  trees  are  planted  there  however, 
either  do  not  grow  up  fo  as  to  afford  made, 
or  elfe  they  cut  them,  and  trim  them  about 
to  make  them  in  pretty  fhapes  forfooth,  as  we 
did  in  England  half  a  century  ago. 

Be  this  as  it  will,  the  vaunted  view  from  the 
caftle  of  St.  Elmo,  though  much  more  deeply 
interejling,  is  in  confequence  of  this  defect  lefs 
naturally  pleafing  than  the  profpect  from  Lo- 
mellino's  villa  near  Genoa,  or  Lord  Clifford's 
park,  called  King's  Wefton,  in  Somerfetfhire  ; 
thofe  two  places  being,  in  point  of  mere  fitua- 
tion,  poffefied  of  beauties  hitherto  unrivalled 
by  any  thing  I  have  feen.  Nor  does  the  fteady 
regularity  of  this  Mediterranean  fea  make  me 
inclined  to  prefer  it  to  our  more  capricious  or 
rather  active  channel.  Sea  views  have  at  beft 
too  little  variety,  and  when  the  flux  and  reflux 
of  the  tide  are  taken  away  from  one,  there  re- 
mains only  rough  and  fmooth  :  whereas  the 
hope  which  its  ebb  and  flow  keep  confcmtly 
renovating,  ferves  to  animate,  and  a  little 
change  the  courfe  of  one's  ideas,  juft  as  its 
fwelling  and  finking  is  of  ufe,  to  purify  in 
fome  degree,  and  keep  the  whole  from  flag- 
nation* 

I  mad§ 


60  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

I  made  inquiry  after  the  old  ilory  of  Ni- 
cola Pefce,  told  by  Kircher,  and  fweetly 
brought  back  to  all  our  memories  by  Gold- 
fmith,  who,  as  Dr.  Johnfon  faid  of  him, 
touched  nothing  that  he  did  not  likewife 
adorn  ;  but  I  could  gain  no  addition  to  what 
we  have  already  heard.  That  there  was  fitch 
a  man  is  certain,  who,  though  become  nearly 
amphibious  by  living  conftantly  in  the  water, 
only  coming  fometimes  on  fhore  for  fleep  and 
refrefhment,  fuffered  avarice  to  be  his  ruin, 
leaping  voluntarily  into  theGulphof  Charybdis 
to  fetch  out  a  gold  cup  thrown  in  thither  to 
tempt  him — what  could  a  gold  cup  have  done 
one  would  wonder  for  Nicola  Pefce  ? — yet 
knowing  the  dangers  of  the  place,  he  braved 
them  all  it  feems  for  this  bright  reward  ;  and 
was  fuppofed  to  be  devoured  by  one  of  the 
polypus  fifh,  who,  flicking  clofe  to  the  rocks, 
extend  their  arms  for  prey.  When  I  ex- 
preffed  my  indignation  that  he  fhould  fo  pe- 
rifh  ;  "  He  forgot  perhaps,'1  faid  one  prefent, 
"  to  recommend  himfelf  to  Santo  Gennaro." 

The  caftle  on  this  hill,  called  the  Caftel  St. 
Elmo,  would  be  much  my  comfort  did  I  fix 
at  Naples  j  for  here  are  eight  thoufand  foldiers 

conftantly 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         61 

conftantly  kept,  to  fecure  the  city  from  fud- 
den  infurrection ;  his  majefty  moft  wifely 
trufting  their  command  only  to  Spanifh  or 
German  officers,  or  fome  few  gentlemen  from 
the  northern  ftates  of  Italy,  that  no  perfonal 
tendernefs  for  any  in  the  town  below  may  in- 
tervene, if  occafion  for  fudden  feverity  fhould 
arife.  We  went  to-day  and  faw  their  garri- 
fon,  comfortably  and  even  elegantly  kept ;  and 
I  was  wicked  enough  to  rejoice  that  the  fol- 
diers  were  never,  but  with  the  very  utmoft 
difficulty,  permitted  to  go  among  the  townl- 
men  for  a  moment. 

To-morrow  we  mount  the  Volcano,  whofe 
prefent  peaceful  difpofidon  has  tempted  us  to 
infpect  it  more  nearly.  Though  it  appears 
little  lels  than  prefumption  thus  to  profane 
with  eyes  of  examination  the  favourite  alem*- 
bic  of  nature,  while  the  great  work  of  projec* 
tion  is  carrying  on ;  guarded  as  all  its  fecret 
caverns  are  too  with  every  contradiction ;  fnow 
and  flame  !  folid  bodies  heated  into  liquefac- 
tion, and  rolling  gently  down  one  of  its  fides ; 
while  fluids  congeal  and  harden  into  ice  on 
the  other  ;  nothing  can  exceed  the  curiofity 
of  its  appearance,  now  the  lava  is  lefs  rapid, 

and 


62  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

and  ftiffens  as  it  flows ;  fliffens  too  in  ridges 
very  furprifmgly,  and  gains  an  odd  afpect,  not 
unlike  the  pafteboard  waves  reprefenting  fea 
at  a  theatre,  but  black,  becaufe  this  year's 
eruption  has  been  mingled  with  coal*  The 
connoifleurs  here  know  the  different  degrees, 
dates,  and  {hades  of  lava  to  a  perfection  that  ama- 
zes one ;  and  Sir  William  Hamilton's  courage, 
learning,  and  perfect  fkill  in  thefe  matters,  is 
more  people's  theme  here  than  the  Volcano 
itfelf.  Bartolomeo,  the  Cyclop  of  Vefuvius  as 
he  is  called,  ftudies  its  effects  and  operations 
too  with  much  attention  and  philofophical  ex- 
adtnefs,  relating  the  adventures  he  has  had 
with  our  minifter  on  the  mountain  to  every 
Englifhman  that  goes  up,  with  great  fuccefs. 
The  way  one  climbs  is  by  tying  a  broad  fafh 
with  long  ends  round  this  Bartolomeo,  letting 
him  walk  before  one,  and  holding  it  faft.  As 
far  as  the  Hermitage  there  is  no  great  diffi- 
culty, and  to  that  place  fonae  chufe  to  ride  an 
afs,  but  I  thought  walking  fafer;  and  there 
you  are  fure  of  welcome  and  refremment 
from  the  poor  good  old  man,  who  fets  up  a 
little  crofs  wherever  the  fire  has  ftopt  near  his 
cell ;  fhews  you  the  place  with  a  fort  of  polite 

folemnity 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         63 

folemnity  that  imprefles,  fpreads  his  fcanty 
provifions  before  you  kindly,  and  tells  the  pad 
and  prefent  ftate  of  the  eruption  accurately, 
inviting  you  to  partake  of 

His  rulhy  couch,  his  frugal  fare, 

His  blefiing  and  repofe.  GOLDSMITH* 

This  Hermit  is  a  Frenchman.  J*ai  danfe 
dans  won  III  tans  de  fois  *,  faid  he  :  the  ex- 
preflion  was  not  fublime  when  fpeaking  of  an 
earthquake,  to  be  fure;  I  looked  among  hfo 
books,  however,  and  found  Bruyere.  "  Would 
not  the  Due  de  Rochefoucault  have  done  bet- 
ter?" faid  I.  "  Did  I  never  fee  you  before,  Ma- 
dam ?"  faid  he  ;  "  yes,  fure  I  have,  and  drefled 
you  too,  when  I  was  a  hair-drefler  in  London, 
and  lived  with  Morif.  Martinant,  and  I  dreff- 
ed  pretty  Mifs  Wynne  too  in  the  fame  ftreet. 
Vlfelk  encore  f  Vifdle  encore  f  J  Ah  I  am  old 
now,"  continued  he ;  "  I  remember  when  black 
pins  firft  came  up."  This  was  charming,  and  iri 
fuch  an  unexpected  way,  I  could  hardly  pre- 
vail upon  myfelf  ever  to  leave  the  fpot ;  but 
Mrs.  Greatheed  having  been  quite  to  the  cra- 

*  I  have  danced  in  my  bed  fo  often  this  year. 
\  Is  (he  yet  alive  ?  Is  (he  yet  alive  ? 

ter'. 


64  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

ter's  edge  with  her  only  fon,  a  baby  of  four 
years  old  ;  fhame  rather  than  inclination  urged 
me  forward ;  I  afked  the  little  boy  what 
he  had  feen  ;  I  faw  the  chimney,  replied  he, 
and  it  was  on  fire,  but  I  liked  the  elephant 
better. 

That  the  fituation  of  the  crater  Changed  in 
this  laft  eruption  is  of  little  confequence  ;  it 
•will  change  and  change  again  I  iuppofe.  The 
wonder  is,  that  nobody  gets  killed  by  ven- 
turing fo  near,  while  red-hot  ftones  are  flying 
about  them  fo.  The  Bimop  of  Derry  did 
very  near  get  his  arm  broke  ;  and  the  Italians 
are  always  recounting  the  exploits  of  thefe 
rafh  Britons  who  look  into  the  crater,  and 
carry  their  wives  and  children  up  to  the  top  ; 
while  we  are,  with  equal  juftice,  amazed  at 
the  courageous  Neapolitans,  who  build  little 
fnug  villages  and  dwell  with  as  much  confi- 
dence at  the  foot  of  Vefuvius,  as  our  people 
do  in  Paddington  or  Hornfey.  When  I  en- 
quired of  an  inhabitant  of  thefe  houfes  how 
(he  managed,  and  whether  me  was  not  fright- 
•ed  when  the  Volcano  raged,  left  it  mould 
carry  away  her  pretty  little  habitation  :  "  Let 
it  go,'*  faid  me,  "  we  don't  mind  now  if  it  goes: 

to- 
9 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.       55 

to-morrow,  fo  as  we  can  make  it  anfwer  by 
raifing  our  vines,  oranges,  &c.  againft  it  for 
three    years,  our  fortune  is  made  before  the 
fourth  arrives ;  and  then  if  the  red  river  comes 
we   can  always  run  away,  fcappar  via,  our- 
felves,  and  hang  the  property.    We  only  defire 
three  years  ufc  of  the  mountain  as  a  hot  wall 
or  forcing-houfe,  and  then  we  are  above  the 
world,  thanks  be  to  God  and  St<  Januarius," 
who  always  comes  in  for4  a  large  fhare  of  their 
veneration  ;  and  this  morning  having  heard 
that  the  Neapolitans  ftill  prefent  each  other 
with  a  cake  upon  New-year's  day, '  I  began  to 
hug  my  favourite  hypothecs  clofer,  recollecl:- 
ing  the   old   ceremony  of  the  wheaten  cake 
feafoned  with  fait,  and  called  Janualis  in  the 
Heathen  days.     All  this  however  muft  ftill 
end  in  mere  conjecture  ;  for  though  the  wea- 
ther here  favours  one's   idea  of  Janus,  who 
loofened  the  furrow  and  liquefied  the  froft,  to 
which  the  melting  our  martyr's  blood  might, 
without   much   ftraining   of  the    matter,   be 
made  to  allude ;    yet  it  muft  be  recolleded 
after  all,  that  the  miracle  is  not  performed  in 
this  month  but  that  of  May,  and  that  St.  Ja- 
imarius  did  certainly  exift  and  give  his  life  as 
VOL.  IL  F  teftimony 


66  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

teftimony  to  the  truth  of  our  religion,  in  the 
third  century.  Can  one  wonder,  however, 
if  corruptions  and  miftakes  fhould  have  crept 
in  fmce  ?  And  would  it  not  have  been  equal 
to  a  miracle  had  no  tares  fprung  up  in  the 
field  of  religion,  when  our  Saviour  himfelf  in- 
forms us  that  there  is  an  enemy  ever  watch- 
ing his  opportunity  to  plant  them  ? 

Thefe  dear  people  too  at  Rome  and  Naples 
do  live  fo  in  the  very  hulk  of  {hip-wrecked  or 
rather  foundered  Paganifm,  have  their  habita- 
tion fo  at  the  very  bottom  of  the  calk,  can  it  fail 
to  retain  the  fcent  when  the  lees  are  fcarce  yet 
dried  up,  clean  or  evaporated  ?  That  an  odd 
jumble  of  paft  and  prefent  days,  paft  and  pre- 
fent  ideas  of  dignity,  events,  and  even  manner 
of  portioning  out  their  time,  ilill  confufe  their 
heads,  may  be  obferved  in  every  converfation 
with  them  ;  and  when  a  few  weeks  ago  we 
revifited,  in  company  of  fome  newly-arrived 
Englifh  friends,  the  old  baths  of  Baiae,  Lo- 
crine  lake,  &c.  Tobias,  who  rowed  us  over, 
bid  us  obferve  the  Appian  way  under  the  wa- 
ter, where  indeed  it  appears  quite  clearly,  even 
to  the  tracks  of  wheels  on  its  old  pavement 
made  of  very  large  (tones  ;  and  feeing  me  per- 
haps 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.          67 

haps  particularly  attentive,  "Yes,  Madam,'*  faid 
he,  "  I  do  aflure  you,  that  Don  Horace  and 
Don  Virgil,  of  whom  we  hear  fuch  a  deal, 
ufed  to  come  from  Rome  to  their  country-feats 
here  in  a  day,  over  this  very  road,  which  is 
now  overflowed  as  you  fee  it,  by  repeated 
earthquakes,  but  which  was  then  fo  good  and 
fo  unbroken,  that  if  they  rofe  early  in  the 
morning  they  could  eafily  gallop  hither  againft 
the  Ave  Maria"' 

It  was  very  obfervable  in  our  fecond  vifit 
paid  to  the  Stuffe  San  Germano,  that  they  had 
increafed  prodigioufly  in  heat  fince  mount 
Vefuvius  had  ceafed  throwing  out  fire,  though 
at  leaft  fourteen  miles  from  it,  and  a  vaft  por- 
tion of  the  fea  between  them  ;  it  vexed  me  to 
have  no  thermometer  again,  but  by  what  one's 
immediate  feelings  could  inform  us,  there 
were  many  degrees  of  difference.  I  could  not 
now  bear  my  hand  on  any  part  of  them  for  a 
moment.  The  fame  lucklefs  dog  was  again 
produced,  and  again  reftored  to  life,  like  the 
lady  in  Dryden's  Fables,  who  is  condemned 
to  be  hunted,  killed,  recovered,  and  fet  on  foot 
again  for  the  amufement  of  her  tormentors ; 
a  ftory  borrowed  from  the  Italian. 

F  2  Solfaterra 


68  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Solfaterra  burned  my  fingers  as  I  plucked 
an  incruftation  off,  which  allured  me  by  the 
beauty  of  its  colours,  and  roared  with  more 
violence  than  when  I  was  there  before.  This 
horrible  volcano  is  by  no  means  extinguifhed 
yet,  but  feems  pregnant  with  wonders,  prin- 
cipally combuftible,  and  likely  to  break  with 
one  at  every  ftep,  all  the  earth  round  it  being 
hollow  as  a  drum,  and  I  mould  think  of  no 
great  thickneis  neither ;  fo  plainly  does  one 
hear  the  fighings  underneath,  which  fome  of 
the  country  people  imagine  to  be  tortured 
fpirits  howling  with  agony. 

It  is  fuppofed  that  Lake  Agnano,  where 
the  dog  is  flung  in,  if  the  dewy  grafs  do  not 
fuffice  to  recover  him,  with  its  humidity  and 
frefhnefs,  as  it  often  does ;  is  but  another 
crater  of  another  volcano,  long  ago  felf- 
deftroyed  by  fcorpion-like  iuicide;  and  it  is 
like  enough  it  may  be  fo.  There  are  not 
wanting  however  thofe  that  think,  or  fay  at 
leaft,  how  a  fubterraneous  or  fubaqueous 
city  remains  even  now  under  that  lake,  but 
lies  too  deep  for  infpeftion. 
.  Sia  comejia  *,  as  the  Italians  exprefs  them- 
felves,  thefe  environs  are  beyond  all  power 

*  Be  it  as  it  may. 

of 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.          69 

of  comprehenfion,  much  more  beyond  all 
effort  of  words  to  defcribe  ;  and  as  Sannaza- 
rius  fays  of  Venice,  fo  I  am  fure  it  may  be  faid 
of  this  place,  "  That  man  built  R.ome,but  God 
created  Naples  :"  for  furely,  furely  he  has  ho- 
noured no  other  fpot  with  fuch  an  accumula- 
tion of  his  wonders  :  nor  can  any  thing  more 
completely  bring  the  defcription  of  the  devoted 
cities  mentioned  in  Genefis  before  one's  eyes, 
than  thefe  concealed  fires,  which  there  I  truft 
burft  up  unexpectedly,  and,  attended  by  fuch 
lightning  as  only  hot  countries  can  exhibit, 
devoured  all  at  once,  nor  fpared  the  too  in- 
credulous inquirer,  who  turned  her  head 
back  with  contempt  of  expected  judgments, 
but  entangling  her  feet  in  the  purfuing 
ftream  of  lava,  fixed  her  faft,  a  monument 
of  bituminous  fait. 

Though  furrounded  by  fuch  terrifying  ob- 
jects, the  Neapolitans  are  not,  I  think,  dif- 
pofed  to  cowardly,  though  eafily  perfuaded 
to  devotional  fuperftitions ;  they  are  not 
afraid  of  fpectres  or  fupernatural  apparitions, 
but  fleep  contentedly  and  foundly  in  fmali 
rooms,  made  for  the  ancient  dead,  and  now 
actually  in  the  occupation  of  old  Roman 
bodies,  the  catacombs  belonging  to  whom 
F  3  are 


7o  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

are  ftill  very  impreffive  to  the  fancy ;  and  I 
have  known  many  an  Englifh  gentleman, 
xvho  would  not  endure  to  have  his  courage 
impeached  by  living  wight ,  whofe  imagina- 
tion would  notwithstanding  have  difturbed 
his  {lumbers  not  a  little,  had  he  been  obliged 
to  pafs  one  night  where  thefe  pcor  women 
fleep  fecurely,  wifhing  only  for  that  money 
which  travellers  are  not  unwilling  to  beftow  ; 
and  perhaps  a  walk  among  thefe  hollow  caves 
of  death,  thefe  fad  repofitories  of  what  was 
once  animated  by  valour  and  illuminated  by 
fcience,  ftrike  one  much  more  than  all  the 
urns  and  lachrymatories  of  Portici. 

How  judicious  is  Mr.  Addifon's  remark, 
"  That  Sifle  Viator!  which  has  a  ftriking  effect 
among  the  Roman  tombs  placed  by  the 
road  fide,  lofes  all  its  power  over  the  mind 
when  placed  in  the  body  of  a  church  :"  I 
think  he  might  have  faid  the  fame,  had  he 
Jived  to  fee  funereal  urns  ufed  as  decorations 
of  hackney-coach  pannels,  and  Caput  Bovis 
over  the  doors  in  New  Taviftock-ftreet. 

It  is  worth  recollecting  however,  that  the 
Dictator  Sylla  is  fuppofed  to  be  the  firft  man 
of  confequence  who  ordered  his  body  to  be 
burned  at  Rome,  as  till  then,  burial  was  ap- 
parently 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.  71 
parently  the  fafhion  :  his  death,  occafioned 
by  the  morbtis  pedlcularis^  made  his  inter- 
ment difficult,  and  what  neceflity  fuggefted  to 
be  done  for  him,  grew  up  into  a  cuftom, 
and  the  fycophants  of  power,  ever  hafly  to 
follow  their  fuperiors,  now  (hewed  their  zeal 
even  in  poft  obit  imitation.  But  while  I  am 
writing,  more  modern  and  lefs  tyrannic 
claimants  for  refpecl:  agreeably  difturb  one's 
meditations  on  the  cruelty  and  oppreffion 
ufed  by  thefe  wicked  poflefTors  of  immortal 
though  ill-gotten  fame. 

The  Queen  of  Naples  is  delivered,  and 
we  are  all  to  make  merry :  the  Caflcllo 
d'  Uovo^  juft  under  our  windows,  is  to  be 
illuminated :  and  from  the  Carthufian  con- 
vent on  the  hill,  to  my  poor  folitary  old 
acquaintance  the  hermit  and  hair-drefTer, 
who  inhabits  a  cleft  in  mount  Vefuvius,  all 
refolve  to  be  happy,  and  to  rejoice  in  the 

felicity    of  a    prince    that    loves    them. 

Shouting,  and  candles,  and  torches,  and 
coloured  lamps,  and  Polinchinello  above  all 
the  reft,  did  their  beft  to  drive  forward  the 
general  joy,  and  make  known  the  birth  of 
the  royal  baby  for  many  miles  round  the 
capital j  and  there  was  a  fplendid  opera  the 
F  4  next 


7*  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

next  night,  in  this  fineft  of  all  fine  theatres, 
though  that  of  Milan  pleafes  me  better  ;  as  I 
prefer  the  elegant  curtains  which  feftoon  it 
over  the  boxes  there,  to  our  heavy  gilt  orna^ 
ments  here  at  Naples ;  and  their  boafted 
looking-glafles,  never  cleaned,  have  no  effecl: 
as  I  perceive  towards  helping  forward  the 
enchantment.  A  fefta  dl  ballo,  or  mafque- 
rade,  given  here  however,  was  exceedingly 
gay,  and  the  drefles  furprifingly  rich  :  our 
party,  a  very  large  one,  all  Italians,  retired 
at  one  in  the  morning  to  quite  the  fineft  fup^ 
per  of  its  fize  I  ever  faw.  Fifh  of  various 
forts,  incomparable  in  their  kinds,  compofed 
eight  dimes  of  the  firft  courfe  ;  we  had  thirty- 
eight  fet  on  the  table  in  that  courfe,  forty-r- 
nine  in  the  fecond,  with  wines  and  defied:  truly 
magnificent,  for  all  which  Mr.  Piozzi  pro- 
tefted  to  me  that  we  paid  only  three  millings 
and  fix-pence  a  head  Englifl}  money  ;  but  for 
the  truth  of  that  he  muft  anfwer :  we  fate 
down  twenty-two  perfons  to  fupper,  and  \ 
obferved  there  were  numbers  of  thefe  parties 
made  in  different  taverns,  or  apartments 
adjoining  to  the  theatre,  whither  after  re- 
frefhment  we  returned,  and  danced  till  dayr 
light, 

The 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         73 

The  theatre  is  a  vaft  building,  even 
when  not  inhabited  or  fet  off  by  lights  and 
company :  all  of  ftone  too,  like  that  of 
Milan  ;  but  particularly  defended  from  fire  by 
St.  Anthony,  who  has  an  altar  and  chapel 
ereded  to  his  honour,  and  fhowily  decorated 
at  the  door  ;  and  on  Sunday  night,  January  the 
twenty- fecoild,  there  were  fireworks  exhibited 
in  honour  of  himfelf  and  his  pig,  which  was 
placed  on  the  top,  and  illuminated  with  no 
fmall  ingenuity :  the  fire  catching  hold  of 
his  tail  firft — con  rifpetto — as  faid  our  Cice- 
rone. But  //  Re  Lear  e  le  fue  tre  Figlie  arc 
advertifed,  and  I  am  fick  to-night  and  can- 
not go. 

Oh  what  a  time  have  I  chofe  out,  &c. 

TO  wear  a  kerchief — would  I  were  not  fick! 

My  lofs  however  is  fomewhat  compenfated ; 
for  though  I  could  not  fee  our  ownShakefpear's 
play  afted  at  Naples,  I  went  fome  days  after  to 
one  of  the  charming  theatres  this  town  is  enter- 
tained by  every  evening,  and  faw  a  play 
which  ftruck  me  exceedingly :  the  plot  was 
fimply  this — An  Englifhman  appears,  drefled 
precifely  as  a  Quaker,  his  hat  on  his  head, 

his 


74  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

his  hands  in  his  pockets,  and  with  a  very 
penfive  air  fays  he  will  take  that  piftol,  pro- 
ducing one,  and  (hoot  himfelf;  "for," -fays 
he,  "  the  politics  go  wrong  at  home  now, 
and  I  hate  the  minifterial  party,  fo  England 
does  not  pleafe  me  ;  I  tried  France,  but  the 
people  there  laughed  fo  about  nothing,  and 
fung  fo  much  out  of  tune,  I  could  not  bear 
France ;  fo  I  went  over  to  Holland  ;  thofe 
Dutch  dogs  are  fo  covetous  and  hard-hearted, 
they  think  of  nothing  but  their  money ;  I 
could  not  endure  a  place  where  one  heard  no 
found  in  the  whole  country  but  frogs  croak- 
ing and  ducats  chinking.  Maladettil  fo  I 
went  to  Spain,  where  I  narrowly  efcaped  a 
fun-ftroke  for  the  fake  of  feeing  thofe  idle 
beggarly  dons,  that  if  they  do  condefcend  to 
cobble  a  man's  fhoe,  think  they  muft  do  it 
with  a  fword  by  their  fide.  I  came  here  to 
Naples  therefore,  but  ne'er  a  woman  will 
/afford  one  a  chafe,  all  are  too  eafily  caught 
to  divert  me,  who  like  fomething  in  profpecl ; 
and  though  it  is  fo  fine  a  country,  one  can 
get  no  fox-hunting,  only  running  after  a 
wild  pig.  Yes,  yes,  I  mujl  moot  myfelf,  the 
world  is  fo  very  dull  I  am  tired  on't." — He 

then 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.          75 

then  coolly  prepares  matters  for  the  operation, 
xvhen  a  youfng  woman  burfts  into  his  apart- 
ment, bewails  her  fate  a  moment,  and  then 
faints  away.  Our  countryman  lays  by  his 
piftol,  brings  the  lady  to  life,  and  having 
heard  part  of  her  ftory,  fets  her  in  a  place 
of  fafety.  More  corifufion  follows  ;  a  gen- 
tleman enters  ftorming  with  rage  at  a  trea- 
cherous friend  he  hints  at,  and  a  falfe  mif- 
trefs  the  Englimman  gravely  advifes  him  to 
{hoot  himfelf :  "  No,  no,"  replies  the  warm 
Italian,  "  I  will  moot  them  though,  if  I  can 
catch  them  ;  but  want  of  money  hinders  me 
from  profecuting  the  fearch."  'That  how- 
ever is  now  inftantly  fupplied  by  the  generous 
Briton,  who  enters  into  their  affairs,  detects 
and  punifhes  the  rogue  who  had  betrayed 
them  all,  fettles  the  marriage  and  reconcilia- 
tion of  his  new  friends,  adds  himfelf  fome- 
thing  to  the  good  girl's  fortune,  and  concludes 
the  piece  with  faying  that  he  has  altered 
his  intentions,  and  -will  think  no  more  of 
{hooting  himfelf,  while  life  may  in  all  coun- 
tries be  rendered  pleafant  to  him  who  will 
employ  it  in  the  fervice  of  his  fellow-crea- 
tures ;  and  finifhes  with  thefe  words,  that 
fuch  are  the  fentlrnenls  of  an  Engliflman. 

Were 


76  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Were  this  pretty  ftory  in  the  hands  of  one 
©f  our  elegant  dramatic  writers,  how  charm- 
ing an  entertainment  would  it  make  us  !  Mr. 
Andrews  mall  have  it  certainly,  for  though 
very  flattering  in  its  intentions  towards  our 
countrymen,  and  the  ground-plot^  as  a  fur- 
veyor  would  call  it,  well  imagined  ;  the  play 
itfelf  was  fcarcely  written  I  believe,  and  very 
little  efteemed  by  the  Italians ;  who  made 
excufes  for  its  groflhefs,  and  faid  that  their 
theatre  was  at  a  very  low  ebb ;  and  fo  I  be- 
lieve it  is.  Yet  their  genius  is  reftlefs,  and 
for  ever  fermenting  ;  and  although,  like  their 
volcano,  of  which  every  individual  has  a 
fpark,  ifc  naturally  throws  out  of  its  mouth 
more  rubbifh  than  marble ;  like  that  too, 
from  fome  occafional  eruptions  we  may  gather 
gems  ftuck  faft  among  fubftances  of  an  inferior 
nature,  which  want  only  difentangling,  and 
a  new  polifh,  to  make  them  valued,  even 
beyond  thofe  that  reward  the  toil  of  an  ex- 
pecting miner. 

The  word  gems  reminds  one  of  Capo  di 
Monte,  where  the  king's  cameos  are  taken  care 
of,  and  where  the  medallift  may  find  perpetual 
entertainment ;  for  I  do  believe  nothing  can 
exceed  the  riches  of  this  collection  ;  though  it 

requires 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.  77 
requires  good  eyes,  great  experience,  and  long 
ftudy,  to  examine  their  merits  with  accurate 
(kill,  and  praife  them  with  intelligent  rapture: 
of  thefe  three  reqnifites  I  boaft  none,  fo  cannot 
enjoy  this  regale  as  much  as  many  others ; 
but  I  have  a  mortal  averfion  to  thofe  who 
encumber  the  general  progrefs  of  fcience  by 
reciprocating  contempt  upon  its  various 
branches:  the  politician  however,  who  weighs 
the  interefts  of  contending  powers,  or  endea- 
vours at  the  happinefs  of  regulating  fome  par- 
ticular (late  ;  who  ftudies  to  prevent  the  en- 
croachments of  prerogative,  or  impede  ad- 
vances to  anarchy  ;  hears  with  faint  appro- 
bation, at  beft,  of  the  difcoveries  made  in  the 
moon  by  modern  aftronomers — difcoveries  of 
a  country  where  he  can  obtain  no  power,  and 
fettle  no  fyftem  of  government — difcoveries 
too,  which  can  only  be  procured  by  peeping 
through  glafles  which  few  can  purchafe,  at  a 
place  which  no  man  can  defire  to  approach. 
While  the  mufical  compofer  equally  laments 
the  fate  of  the  foflilift,  who  literally  buries  his 
talent  in  the  ground,  and  equally  dead  to  all 
the  charms  of  tafte,  the  tranfports  of  true 
exprefTion,  and  the  delights  of  harmony, 
rifes  with  the  fun  only  to  fhun,  his  beams, 

and 
12 


78  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

and  feek  in  the  dripping  caverns  of  the 
earth  the  effects  of  his  diminifhed  influence. 
The  medallift  has  had  much  of  this  fcorn  to 
contend  with  ;  yet  he  that  makes  it  his  ftudy 
to  regifter  great  events,  is  perhaps  next  to  him 
who  has  contributed  to  their  birth  :  and  this 
palace  difplays  a  degree  of  riches  en  ce  genre, 
difficult  to  conceive. 

I  was,  however,  better  entertained  by 
admiring  the  incomparable  Schidonis,  which 
are  to  be  found  only  here  :  he  was  a 
fcholar,  or  rather  an  imitator,  of  Correg- 
gio  ;  and  what  he  has  done  feems  more 
the  refult  of  genius  animated  by  obfervation, 
than  oFprofound  thought  or  minute  nicety; 
he  painted  fuch  ragged  folks  as  he  found  upon 
the  Cbiaja ;  yet  his  pictures  differ  no  lefs  from 
the  Dutch  fchool,  than  do  thofe  which  flow 
from  the  majeftic  pencil  of  the  demi- divine 
Caracci  and  their  followers,  and  for  the  fame 
reafon;  their  minds  reflected  dignity  and  grace, 
his  eyes  looked  upon  forms  finely  propor- 
tioned, though  covered  with  tatters,  or  perhaps 
fcarcely  covered  at  all ;  no  fmugnefs,  no 
plumpnefs,  no  vulgar  character,  ever  crofTed 
the  fancy  of  Schidone  ;  for  a  Laz-aroni  at 
Naples,  like  a  failor  at  Portfmouth,  is  no  mean 

character, 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.  79 

character,  though  he  is  a  coarfe  one ;  it  is  in 
the  low  Parifian,  and  the  true-bred  London 
blackguard,  we  muft  look  for  innate  bafe- 
nefs,  and  near  approaches  to  brutality;  nor 
are  the  Hollanders  wanting  in  originals  I  truft, 
when  one  has  feen  fo  many  copies  of  the  hu- 
man form  from  their  hands,  diverted  of  foul 
as  I  may  fay,  and,  like  Prior's  Emma  when 
me  refolves  to  ramble  with  her  outlawed  lover, 

And  mingle  with  the  people's  wretched  lee — 
Oh  line  extreme  of  human  infamy  ! — 
Left  by  her  look  or  colour  be  expreft 
The  mark  of  aught  high-born,  or  ever  better 
dreft. 

Here  is  a  beautiful  performance  too  of  the 
Venetian  fchool — a  refurreclion  of  Lazarus,  by 
LeandroBarTano,efteemed  the  beil  performance 
of  that  family,  and  full  of  merit — the  merit  of 
character  I  mean ;  while  Mary's  eyes  are  wholly 
employed,  and  her  mind  apparently  engrofled 
by  the  Saviour's  benignity,  and  almighty 
power ;  Martha  thinks  merely  on  the  prefent 
exertion  of  them,  and  only  watches  the  deli-< 
verance  of  her  beloved  brother  from  the  tomb : 
the  reftored  Lazarus  too — an  apparent  corpfe, 
re-awakened  fuddenly  to  a  thoufand  fenfations 
at  once,  wonder,  gratitude,  and  affectionate 
2  delight! 


So  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

delight ! — How  can  one  coldly  fit  to  hear  the 
connoifTeurs  admire  the  folds  of  the  drapery  ? 
Larifranc's  St.  Michael  too  is  a  very  noble 
picture  ;  and  though  his  angel  is  infinitely  lefs 
angelic  than  that  of  Guido,  his  devil  is  a  lefs 
ordinary  and  vulgar  devil  than  that  of  his 
fellow- ftudent,  which  fomewhat  too  much  re- 
feinbles  the  common  peeping  fatyr  in  a  land- 
fcape  j  whereas  Lanfranc's  Lucifer  feems  em- 
bued  with  more  intellectual  vices — rage,  re- 
venge, and  ambition. 

But  I  am  called  from  my  obfervations  and 
reflexions,  to  fee  what  the  Neapolitans  call 
//  trio?ifo  dl  PoUclncllo^  a  perfon  for  whom 
they  profefs  peculiar  value.  Harlequin  and 
Brighella  here  fcarcely  (hare  the  fondnefs  of 
an  audience,  while  at  Venice,  Milan,  &c. 
inuch  pleaiantry  is  always  caft  into  their  cha- 
racters. 

The  triumph  was  a  pageant  of  prodigious 
fize,  fet  on  four  broad  wheels  like  our  wag- 
gons, but  larger ;  it  confifted  of  a  pyramid  of 
men,  twenty-eight  in  number,  placed  with 
wonderful  ingenuity  all  of  one  fize,  fomething 
like  what  one  has  feen  exhibited  at  Sadler's 
Wells,  the  Roy  al  Circus,  &c. ;  drefled  in  one 

uniform, 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         81 

uniform,  viz.  the  white  habit  and  puce- 
coloured  mafk  of  caro  Policinello ;  difpofed 
too  with  that  ikill  which  tumblers  alone  can 
either  difplay  or  defcribe  ;  a  fmgle  figure,  ftill 
in  the  fame  drefs,  crowning  the  whole,  and 
forming  a  point  at  the  top,  by  ftanding  fixed 
on  the  moulders  of  his  companions,  and  play- 
ing merrily  on  the  fiddle ;  while  twelve  oxen 
of  a  beautiful  white  colour,  and  trapped  with 
many  fhining  ornaments,  drew  the  whole 
(lowly  over  the  city,  amidft  the  acclamations 
of  innumerable  fpeclators,  that  followed  and 
applauded  the  performance  with  {hours. 

What  I  have  learned  from  this  fhow,  and 
many  others  of  the  fame  kind,  is  of  no  greater 
value  than  the  derivation  of  bis  name  who  is  fo 
much  the  favourite  of  Naples  :  but  from  the 
mafk  he  appears  in,  cut  and  coloured  fo  as 
exactly  to  refemble  ajtfra,  with  hook  nofe  and 
wrinkles,  like  the  body  of  that  animal ;  his 
employment  too,  being  ever  ready  to  hop, 
and  fkip,  and  jump  about,  with  affectation 
of  uncommon  elasticity,  giving  his  neighbours 
a  fly  pinch  from  time  to  time :  all  thefe  cir- 
cumftances,  added  to  the  very  intimate  ac- 
quaintance and  connection  all  the  Neapolitans 
have  with  this,  the  lead  offenfive  of  all  the 

VOL.  II.  G  inmi- 


82  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

innumerable  infects  that  infeft  them  ;  and, 
laft  of  all,  bis  name,  which,  corrupt  it  how  we 
pleafe,  was  originally  Pullcmdlo  ;  leaves  me 
perfuaded  that  the  appellation  is  merely  little 
fea. 

A  drive  to  Caierta,  the  king's  great  palace, 
not  yet  quite  fmiihed,  carries  me  away  from 
this  important  ftudy,  and  leaves  me  little  time 
to  enjoy  the  praifes  due  to  a  difcovery  of  fo 
much  confequence. 

The  drive  perhaps  pleafed  us  better  than  the 
palace,  which  is  a  prodigious  mafs  of  building 
indeed,  and  to  my  eye  appears  to  cover  more 
fpacelhan  proud  Verfailles  itfelf ;  court  within 
court,  and  quadrangle  within  quadrangle  ;  it 
is  an  enormous  bulk  to  be  fure — not  pile — for 
it  is  not  high  in  proportion  to  the  furrounding 
objects  fomehow ;  and  being  compofed  all  of 
brick,  prefents  ideas  rather  of  fquat  folidity, 
than  of  princely  magnificence.  Oftentation  is 
expected  always  to  ftrike,  as  elegance  is  known 
to  charm,  the  beholder  ;  and  fpace  feldom 
fails  in  its  immediate  effect  upon  the  mind; 
but  here  the  valley  (I  might  fay  hole)  this 
houfe  is  fet  in, ,  looks  too  little  for  it ;  and 
offends  one  in  the  fame  manner  as  the  more 
o  beautiful 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.  g$ 

beautiful  buildings  do  at  Buxton,  where  from 
every  hill  one  expeds  to  tumble  down  upon 
the  new  Crefcent  below.  The  flair-cafe  is 
fuch,  however,  as  I  am  perfuaded  no  other 
palace  can  mew;  vaftly  wider  than  any  the 
French  king  can  boaft,  and  infinitely  more 
precious  with  regard  to  the  marbles  which 
compofe  its  fides.  The  immenfity  of  it,  how- 
ever, though  it  enhances  the  value,  does  not 
do  much  honour  to  the  tafte  of  him  who  con- 
trived it.  No  apartments  can  anfwer  the  ex- 
pectations raifed  by  fuch  an  approach ;  and 
in  fact  the  chapel  alone  is  worthy  an  afcent  fo 
fit  for  a  triumphal  proceflion,  inftead  of  a  pair 
of  ftairs.  That  chapel  is  I  confefs  of  exquifite 
beauty  and  elegance ;  and  there  is  a  picture, 
by  Mengs,  of  the  blefled  Virgin  Mary's  pre- 
fentation  when  a  girl,  that  is  really  paitrie  des 
graces-,  it  fcarcely  can  be  admired  or  com- 
mended enough,  and  one  can  fcarcely  pre- 
vail on  one's  felf  ever  to  quit  it.  Her  mar- 
riage, a  picture  on  the  other  fide,  is  not  fo 
happily  imagined  ;  but  it  icems  as  if  the 
painter  thought  that  joke  too  good  to  part 
with,  that  there  never  was  a  particularly  ex- 
cellent picture  of  a  wedding  ;  and  that  Pouflin 
G  2  himielf 


$4  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

himfelf  failed,  when  having  reprefented  all  the 
fix  other  facraments  fo  admirably,  that  of  mar- 
riage has  heen  found  fault  with  by  the  con- 
aoifleurs  of  every  fucceeding  generation. 

\Vell!  if  the  palace  atCaferta  mufi  be  deemed 
more  heavy  than  handforne,  I  fear  the  gardens 
muft  likewife  be  avowed  to  be  laid  out  in  a 
manner  one  would  rather  term  favage  than 
natural :  all  artifice  is  bammed  however  :  the 
king  of  Naples  fcorns  petty  tricks  for  the 
amufement  of  petty  minds ; — he  turns  a 
whole  river  down*  hrs  cafcade, — a  real  one? 
and  if  its  formation  is  not  of  the  firft  rate  for 
afluming  an  appearance  of  nature,  it  has  the 
merit  of  being  fincerely  that  which  others 
only  pretend  to  be :  while  I  am  told  that 
his  architects  are  now  employed  in  connect- 
ing the  great  ftones  awkwardly  difpofed  in  two- 
rows  down  each  fide  the  torrent,  with  the 
very  rocks  and  mountains  among  which  the 
fpring  rifes  j  if  they  effedt  this,  their  cafcade 
will,  fo  far  as  ever  I  have  read  or  heard,  be 
fingle  in  its  kind. 

Van  Vittellr's  aqueduct  is  a  prodigioufly 
beautiful,  magnificent,  and  what  is  mere,  a 
ufeftil  performance  :  having  the  fineft  models 
of  antiquity,  he  is  faid  to  have  furpafled  them 

all. 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         85 

all.  Why  fuch  fuperb  and  expenfive  methods 
fhouljd  be  ftill  ufed  to  conduct  water  up  and 
down  Italy,  any  more  than  other  nations,  or 
why  they  are  not  equally  neceflary  in  France 
and  England,  nobody  informs  me.  Madame 
dc  Bocages  enquired  long  ago,  when  me  was 
taken  to  fee  the  fountain  Trevi  at  Rome,  why 
they  had  no  water  at  Paris  but  the  Seine  ?  I 
think  the  queftion  fo  natural,  that  one  wifhes 
to  repeat  it  ;  and  one  great  reafon,  little  urged 
by  others,  incites  me  to  look  with  envy  on  the 
delicious  and  almoft  innumerable  gufhes  of 
water  that  cool  the  air  of  Naples  and  of  Rome, 
and  pour  their  pellucid  tides  through  almoft 
every  ftreet  of  thofe  luxurious  cities  :  it  is  tbisy 
that  I  confider  them  as  a  prefervative  againft 
that  dreadfulleft  of  all  maladies,  canine  mad- 
nefs;  a  diftemper  which,  notwithftanding  the 
exceffive  heat,  has  here  fcarcely  a  name.  Sure 
it  is  the  plenty  of  drink  the  dogs  meet  at 
every  turn,  that  muft  be  the  fole  caufe  of  a 
blefling  fo  defirable. 

My  (lay  has  been  always  much  fhorter  than 

I  wiflied  it,  in  every  great  town  of  Italy  ;  but 

here!  where   numberlefs  wonders  ftrike  the 

ienfe  without  fatiguing  it,  I  do  feel  double 

G  3  pleaiure ; 


86  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

pleafure  ;  and  among  all  the  new  ideas  I  have 
acquired  fince  England  leffened  to  ray  fight 
upon  the  fea,  thofe  gained  at  .Naples  will  be 
the  laft  to  quit  me»  The  works  of  art  may 
be  found  great  and  lovely,  but  the  drunken 
Faun  and  the  dying  Gladiator  will  fade  from 
one's  remembrance,  and  leave  the  glow  of 
Solfaterra  and  the  gloom  of  Pofilippo  indeli- 
bly impreifed.  Vefuvius  too !  that  terrified 
me  fo  when  firft  we  drove  into  this  amazing 
town,  what  future  images  can  ever  obliterate 
the  thrilling  fenfations  it  -at  firft  occafioned  ? 
Surely  the  fight  of  old  friends  after  a  tedious 
abfence  can  alone  fupply  the  vacancy  that  a 
mind  muft  feel  which  quits  fuch  fublime,  fuch 
animated  fcenery,  arid  experiences  a  fudden 
deprivation  of  delight,  finding  the  bofom  all 
at  once  unfurnifhed  of  what  has  yielded  it  for 
three. fwiftly-flown  months,  perpetual  change 
of  undecaying  pleafures. 

To-morrow  I  mall  take  my  laft  look  at  the 
Bay,  and  driving  forward,  hope  at  night  to 
lodge  at  Terracina. 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.          87 

JOURNEY  FROM  NAPLES  TO  ROME. 

THE  morning  of  the  day  we  left  our  fair 
Parthenope  was  pafled  in  recolleding  her  va- 
rious charms  :  every  one  who  leaves  her  car- 
ries off  the  fame  fenfations.  I  have  afked 
fevera!  inhabitants  of  other  Italian  States  what 
they  liked  heft  in  Italy  except  home ;  it  was 
Naples  always,  dear  delightful  Naples  !  When 
I  fay  this,  I  mean  always  to  exclude  thofe 
whofc  particular  purfuits  lead  them  to  cities 
•which  contain  the  prize  they  prefs  for.  Eng- 
lifli  people  when  unprejudiced  exprefs  the 
like  preference.  Attachments  formed  by  love 
or  friendfhip,  though  they  give  charms  to 
every  place,  cannot  be  admitted  as  a  reafon  for 
commending  any  one  above  the  reft.  A  tra- 
veller without  candour  it  is  vain  to  read  ;  one 
might  as  well  hope  to  get  a  juft  view  of  na- 
ture by  looking  through  a  coloured  glafs,  as 
to  gain  a  true  account  of  foreign  countries,  by 
turning  over  pages  dictated  by  prejudice. 

With  the  nobility  of  Naples  I  had  no  acquaint- 
ance, and  can    of  courfe  fay  nothing  of  their 
manners.     Thofe  of  the  middling  people  feeni 
to  be  behind-hand  with  their  neighbours ;    it 
G  4  is 


88  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

is  fo  odd  that  they  fhould  never  yet  have  ar- 
rived at  calling  their  money  by  other  names 
than  thofe  of  the  weights,  an  ounce  and  a 
grain ;  the  coins  however  are  not  ugly. 

The  evening  of  the  day  we  left  this  furpri- 
fmg  city  was  fpent  out  of  its  king's  domini- 
ons, at  Terracina,  which  now  affords  one  of 
the  heft  inns  in  Italy ;  it  is  kept  by  a  French- 
man, whofe  price,  though  high,  is  regulated, 
whofe  behaviour  is  agreeable,  and  whofe  fup- 
pers  and  beds  are  delightful.  Near  the  ipot 
where  his  houfe  now  ftands,  there  was  in  an- 
cient Pagan  days  a  temple,  creeled  to  the  me- 
mory of  the  beardlefs  Jupiter  called  Anxurus, 
of  which  Paufanias,  and  I,  believe  Scaliger  too, 
take  notice  ;  though  the  medal  of  Panfa  is 
imago  barbata,  Jed  intonfa^  they  tell  me  ;  and 
Statius  extends  himfelf  in  defcribing  the  in- 
nocence of  Jupiter  and  Juno's  converfation 
and  connection  in  their  early  youth.  Both 
of  them  had  ftatues  of  particular  magnificence 
venerated  with  very  peculiar  ceremonies, 
erected  for  them  in  this  town,  however,  ut  An- 
xur  fuit  qua  nunc  Terracina  funt  *.  The 
tenth  Thebaid  too  fpeaks  much  de  templo 

*  Which  was  once  Anxur,  and  now  is  Terracina. 

7  facro 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         89 

facro  et  Junoni  puella,  Jovis  Axuro  *  ;  and 
who  knows  after  all  whether  thefe  odd  cir- 
cumftances  might  not  be  the  original  reafon 
of  Anxur's  grammatical  peculiarity,  well 
known  to  all  from  the  line  in  old  Propria  que 
ns^ 
Et  genus  Anxur  quod  dat  utrumque  ? 

This  place  was  founded  and  colonifed  by 
JEmilius  Mamercus  and  Lucius  Plautus,  Anno 
Mundi  3725  I  think  ;  they  took  the  town  of 
Priverna,  and  fent  each  three  hundred  citizens 
to  fettle  this  new  city,  where  Jupiter  Anxurus 
was  worfhipped,  as  Virgil  among  fo  many 
other  writers  bears  teftimony  : 

Circcumque  jugum,  queis  Jupiter  Anxuris  arvis 
Prasfidet  f.  yth 


Jimilius  Mamercus  was  a  very  pious  conful, 
and  when  he  ferved  before  with  Genutius  his 
colleague,  made  himfelf  famous  for  driving 
the  nail  into  Minerva's  temple  to  flop  the 
progrefs  of  the  plague;  he  was  therefore  likely 

*  The  temple  facred  to  the  maiden  Juno  and  un- 
razored Jove. 

t  And  the  fteep  hills  of  Circe  ftretch  around, 
Where  fair  Feronia  boafts  her  (lately  grove, 
And  Anxur  glories  in  her  guardian  Jove.  PITT. 

enough 


9o  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

enough  to  encourage  this  Tuperftitious  wor- 
fhip  of  the  beardlefs  Jupiter. 

Some  books  of  geography,  very  old  ones, 
had  given  me  reafon  to  make  enquiry  after  a 
poifonous  fountain  in  the  rocks  near  Terra- 
cina.  My  enquiries  were  not  vain.  The 
fountain  ftill  exifts,  and  whoever  drinks  it 
dies  ;  though  Martial  fays, 

Sive  falutiferis  candidus  Anxur  acquis  *, 

The  place  is  now  cruelly  unwholefome  how- 
ever ;  fo  much  fo,  that  our  French  landlord 
protefts  he  is  obliged  to  leave  it  all  the  fummer 
months,  at  lead  the  very  hot  feafon,  and  re- 
tire with  his  family  to  Molo  di  Gaeta.  He 
told  us  with  rational  delight  enough  of  a  vifit 
the  Pope  had  made  to  thofe  places  fome  few 
years  ago  ;  and  that  he  had  been  heard  to  fay 
to  fome  of  his  attendants  how  there  was  no 
mal  aria  at  all  thereabouts  in  paft  days  :  an  ob- 
fervation  which  had  much  amazed  them.  It 
was  equally  their  wonder  how  his  Holinefs 
went  o' walking  about  with  a  book  in  his 
hand  or  pocket,  repeating  verfes  by  the  fea- 
fide.  One  of  them  had  afked  the  name  of  the 
book,  but  nobody  could  remember  it.  "  Was 
it  Virgil  ?"  faid  one  of  our  company.  "  Eh  mon 

*  White  Anxur's  falutary  waters  roll. 


JOURNEY  THROUGH   ITALY.  9i 

Dieu^  Madame^  vous  I'avez  divinee  *,"  replied 
the  man.  But,  O  dear  (thought  I),  how 
would  thefe  poor  people  have  flared,  if  their 
amiable  fovereign,  enlightened  and  elegant 
as  his  mind  is,  had  happened  to  talk  more  in 
their  prefence  of  what  he  had  been  reading  on 
the  fea  more,  Virgil  or  Homer-,  had  he 
chanced  to  mention  that  Molo  di  Gaeta  was  in 
ancient  times  the  feat  of  the  Leftrygones,  and 
inhabited  by  canibals,  men  who  eat  one  an- 
other !  and  furely  it  is  fcarcely  lefs  comical 
than  curious,  to  recollecl:  how  Ulyfles  ex- 
preiTes  his  fenfations  on  firft  landing  juft  by 
this  now  lovely  and  highly-cultivated  fpot, 
when  he  pathetically  exclaims, 

Upon  what  coaft, 

On  what  new  region  is  UlyfTes  toft  ? 
Pofleft  by  wild  barbarians  fierce  in  arms, 
Or  men  whofe  bofoms  tender  pity  warms  ? 
POPE'S  ODYSSEY. 

Poor  Cicero  might  indeed  have  afked  the 
queftion  feven  or  eight  centuries  after,  in  days 
falfely  faid  to  be  civilized  to  a  ftate  of  per- 
fe&ion;  when  his  moft  inhuman  murder  near 
this  town,  completed  the  meafure  of  their  crimes; 
who  to  their  country's  fate  added  that  of  its 
philofopher,  its  orator,  its  acknowledged  father 
*  Why,  Madam,  you  have  hit  on  it  fure  enough. 

and 


9z  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

and  preferver.— Cruel,  ungrateful  Rome!  ever 
crimibn  with  the  blood  of  its  own  beft  citi- 
zens— theatre  of  civil  difcord  and  profcrip- 
tions,  unheard  of  in  any  hiftory  but  her's  ; 
who,  next  to  Jerufalem  in  fins,  has  been 
next  in  fufferings  too ;  though  twice  fo 
highly  favoured  by  Heaven — from  the  dread- 
ful moment  when  all  her  power  was  at  once 
crufhed  by  barbarifm,  and  even  her  language 
rendered  dead  among  mankind — to  the  pre- 
fent  hour,  when  even  her  fecond  fplendours, 
like  the  laft  gleams  of  an  aurora  borealis,  fade 
gradually  from  the  view,  and  fink  almoft  im- 
perceptibly into  decay.  Nor  can  the  exem- 
plary virtues  and  admirable  conduct  of  ihis^ 
and  of  her  four  laft  princes,  redeem  her  from 
ruin  long  threatened  to  her  paft  tyrannical 
offences  ;  any  more  than  could  the  merits  of 
Marcus  AureJTms  and  Antoninus  Pius  com- 
penfate  for  the  crimes  of  Tiberius,  Caligula, 
and  Nero. — Let  the  death  of  Cicero,  which  in- 
fpired  this  rhapfody, contribute  to  excufe  it ;  and 
let  me  turn  my  eyes  to  the  bewitching  fpot — 

"Where  Circe  dwelt,  the  daughter  of  the  day. 

That  fuch  enchantreffes  mould  inhabit  fuch 
regions  could  have  been  fcarce  a  wonder  in 

Homer's 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         93 

Homer's  time  I  trow  ;  the  fame  country  ftill 
retains  the  lame  power  of  producing  fingers, 
to  whom  our  Englifh  may  with  propriety 
enough  cry  out ; 

Hail,  foreign  wonder  ! 

Whom  certes  our  rough  {hades  did  never  breed. 

MILTON. 

That  fhe  fhould  be  the  offspring  of  Phoebus 
too,  in  a  place  where  the  fun's  rays  have  fo 
much  power,  was  a  well-imagined  fable  one 
may  feel ;  and  her  inftruclions  to  Ulyffes  for 
his  fucceeding  voyage,  juft,  apt,  and  proper: 
enjoining  him  a  prayer  to  Crateis  the  mother 
of  Scylla,  to  pacify  her  rapacious  daughter's 
fury,  is  the  leaft  intelligible  of  ail  Circe's  ad- 
vice, to  me.  But  when  I  faw  the  nafty  trick 
they  had  at  Naples,  of  fpreading  out  the  ox- 
hides to  dry  upon  the  fea  ihore,  as  one  drives 
to  Portici  ;  the  Sicilian  herds,  mentioned  in 
the  Odyffey,  and  their  crawling  fkiris,  came 
into  my  head  in  a  moment. 

We  have  left  thefe  fcenes  of  fabulous  won- 
der and  real  pleafure  however  ;  left  the  warm 
veftiges  of  claflic  ftory,  and  places  which  have 
produced  the  nobleft  efforts  of  the  human 
mind  ;  places  which  have  ferved  as  no  ig- 
noble themes  for  truly  immortal  fong;  all 

quitted 


94  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

quitted  now  !  all  left  for  recollection  to  mufe 
on,  and  for  fancy  to  combine  :  but  thefe  eyes 
I  fear  will  never  more  furvey  them.  Well ! 
no  matter — 

When  like  the  bafelefs  fabric  of  a  vifion, 
The  cloud-capt  tow'rs,  the  gorgeous  palaces, 
The  folemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itfelf, 
Yea  all  which  it  inherit,  fhall  diffolve  j 
And  like  fome  unfubftantial  pageant  faded 
Leave  not  a  wreck  behind. 


ROME* 

WE  are  come  here  juft  in  time  to  fee  the 
three  lafl  days  of  the  carnival,  and  very  droli 
it  is  to  walk  or  drive,  and  fee  the  people  run 
about  the  ftreets,  all  in  fome  gay  difguife  or 
other,  and  mafked,  and  patched,  and  painted  to 
make  fport.  The  Corfo  is  now  quite  a  fcene 
of  diftradion  ;  the  coachmen  on  the  boxes 
pretending  to  be  drunk,  and  throwing  fugar- 
plumbs  at  the  women,  which  it  grows  hard  to 
find  out  in  the  crowd  and  confufion,  as  the 
evening,  which  fhuts  in  early,  is  the  feftive 
hour :  and  there  is  fome  little  hazard  in  pa- 
rading the  ftreets,  left  an  accident  might  hap- 
pen; 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.        95 

pen  ;  though  a  temporary  rail  and  trottoir  are 
ereded,  to  keep  the  carriages  off.  Our  high 
joke,  however,  feems  to  confift  in  the  men 
putting  on  girls  clothes :  a  woman  is  fome- 
what  a  rarity  at  Rome,  and  ftrangely  fuper- 
fluous  as  it  mould  appear  by  the  extraordinary 
fubftitutes  found  for  them  on  the  ftage  :  it  is 
more  than  \vonderful  to  fee  great  ftrong  fel- 
lows dancing  the  women's  parts  in  thefe  fa- 
fhionable  dramas,  paftoral  and  heroic  ballets 
as  they  call  them.  Soprano  fingers  did  not  fo 
furprife  me  with  their  feminine  appearance  in 
the  Opera  ;  but  thefe  clumfy  fgurantes  !  all 
flout,  coarfe-looking  men,  kicking  about  in 
hooped  petticoats,  were  to  me  irrefiflibly  ri- 
diculous :  the  gentlemen  with  me  however, 
both  Italians  and  Englifti,  were  too  much 
difgufted  to  laugh,  while  la  premiere  danfeufe 
aded  the  coquet  beauty,  or  diftraded  mother, 
with  a  black  beard  which  no  art  could  fubdue, 
and  deftroyed  every  illufion  of  the  pantomime 
at  a  glance.  All  this  ftruck  nobody  but  us 
-  foreigners  after  all ;  tumultuous  and  often 
tender  applaufes  from  the'  pit  convinced. us  of 
their  heart-felt  approbation  !  and  in  the  par- 
terre fat  gentlemen  much  celebrated  at  Rome 
for  their  tafte  and  refinement. 

As 


96  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

As  their  exhibition  did  not  pleafe  our 
party,  notwithftanding  its  Angularity,  we  went 
but  once  to  the  theatre,  except  when  a  Fefta 
di  Ballo  was  advertifed  to  begin  at  eleven 
o'clock  one  night,  but  detained  the  com- 
pany waiting  on  its  flairs  for  two-,  hours 
at  leaft  beyond  the  time :  for  my  own  part 
I  was  better  amufed  outfide  the  doors,  than 
in.  Mafquerades  can  of  themfelves  give  very 
little  pleafure  except  when  they  are  new  things. 
What  was  moft  my  delight  and  wonder  to  ob- 
ferve,  was  the  fight  of  perhaps  two  hundred 
people  of  different  ranks,  all  in  my  mind 
ftrarigely  ill-treated  by  a  nobleman ;  who  having 
a  private  fupper  in  the  room,  prevented  their 
entrance  who  paid  for  admiffion  ;  all  mortified, 
all  crowded  together  in  an  inconvenient  place; 
all  fuflfering  much  from  heat,  and  more  from, 
difappointment;  yet  all  in  perfect  good  humour 
with  each  other,  and  with  the  gentleman  who 
detained  in  longing  and  ardent,  but  not  impa- 
tiently-exprefled  expectation,  fuch  a  number 
of  Romans :  who,  as  I  could  not  avoid  remark- 
ing, certainly  deferve  to  rule  over  all  the 
world  once  more,  if,  as  we  often  read  in  tiif- 
tory,  command  is  to  be  beft  learned  from  the 
pra&ice  si  obedience. 

The 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.       97 

The  mafquerade  was  carried  on  when  we 
had  once  begun  it,  with  more  tafte  and  ele- 
gance here,  than  either  at  Naples  or  Milan ; 
fo  it  was  at  Florence,  I  remember ;  more  dref- 
fes  of  contrivance  and  fancy  being  produced- 
We  had  a  very  pretty  device  laft  night,  of  a  man 
who  pretended  to  carry  ftatues  about  as  if  for  fale : 
the  gentlemen  and  ladies  who  perfonated  the 
figures  were  incomparable  from  the  choice  of 
attitudes,  and  fkill  in  colouring ;  but  //  car- 
novale  e  worto,  as  the  women  of  quality  told 
us  laft  night  from  their  coaches,  in  which  they 
carried  little  tranfparent  lanthorns  of  a  round 
form,  red,  blue,  green,  &c.  to  help  forward 
the  mine  ;  and  thefe  they  throw  at  each  other 
as  they  did  fugar  plums  in  the  other  towns, 
while  the  millions  of  fmall  thin  bougie  candles 
held  in  every  hand,  and  ftuck  up  at  every  bal- 
cony, make  the  Strada  del  Popolo  as  light  as 
day,  and  produce  a  wonderfully  pretty  effect, 
gay,  natural,  and  pleafing. 

The  unftudied  hilarity  of  Italians  is  very  rejoi- 
cing to  the  heart,  from  one's  confcioufnefs  that  it 
is  therefult  of  cheerful  nefs  really  felt,  not  a  mere 
incentive  to  happinefs  hoped  for.  The  death 
of  Carnovale,  who  was  carried  to  his  grave 
with  fo  many  candles  fuddenly  extinguilhed 

VOL.  II.  H  at 


$3  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

at  twelve  o'clock  laft  night,  has  reftored  us  to  a 
tranquil  pofleffion  of  ourfelves,  and  to  an  op- 
portunity of  examining  the  beauties  of  nature 
and  art  that  furround  one. 

St.  Peter's  church  is  incoftteftably  the  firft 
objecl:  in  this  city,  fo  crowded  with  iingle  fi- 
gures :  That  this  church  fhotild  be  built  in  the 
form  of  a  Latin  crofs  inftead  of  a  Greek  one 
may  be  wrong  for  ought  I  know  ;  that  co- 
lumns would  have  done  better  than  piers  in- 
fide,  I  do  not  think  ;  but  that  whatever  has 
been  done  by  rnan  might  have  been  done 
better,  if  that  is  all  the  critics  want^  I  readily 
allow.  This  church  isj  after  all  their  objec- 
tions, nearer  to  perfect  than  any  other  build- 
ing in  the  world  5  and  when  Michael  Angelo* 
looking  at  the  Pantheon,  faid,  "  Is  this  the  beft 
our  vaunted  anceftors  could  do  r  If  fo,  I  will  fhew 
the  advancement  of  the  art,  in  fufpending  a 
dome  of  equal  fize  to  this  up  in  the  air."  He 
made  a  glorious  boaft*  and  was  perhaps  the 
©nly  perfon  ever  exifting  who  could  have 
performed  his  promife. 

The  figures  of  angels,  or  rather  chernbims, 
eight  feet  high,  which  fupport  the  vafes  hold- 
ing holy  water,  as  they  are  made  after  the 
form  of  babies,  do  perfectly  and  clofely  rc- 
prefent  infants  of  eighteen  or  twenty  months 

old; 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.      99 

old ;  nor  till  one  comes  quite  clofe  to  them 
indeed,  is  It  poffible  to  difcern  that  they  are 
coloflal.  This  is  brought  by  fome  as  a  proof 
of  the  exact  proportions  kept,  and  of  the 
prodigious  fpace  occupied,  by  the  area  of  this 
immenfe  edifice ;  and  urged  by  others,  as  a 
peculiarity  of  the  human  body  to  deceive  fo 
at  a  diftance,  moft  unjuftly  i  for  one  is  fur- 
prifed  exactly  in  the  fame  manner  by  the 
doves,  which  ornament  the  church  in  various 
parts  of  it.  They  likewife  appear  of  the 
natural  fize,  and  completely  within  one's 
reach  upon  entering  the  door,  but  foon  as 
approached,  recede  to  a  confiderable  height, 
and  prove  their  magnitude  nicely  propor- 
tioned to  that  of  the  angels  and  other  deco*> 
rations. 

The  canopied  altar,  and  its  appurte* 
nances,  are  likewife  all  coloflal  I  think,  when 
they  tell  me  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  thou* 
fand  pounds  weight  of  bronze  brought  from 
the  Pantheon,  and  ufed  to  form  the  wreathed 
pillars  which  fupport,  arid  the  torfes  thaj 
adorn  it»  Yet  airy  lightnefs  and  exquiiite 
elegance  are  the  chara&eriftics  of  the  fabric, 
not  gloomy  greatnefs,  or  heavy  folidity. 
Jiow  immenfe  then  muft  be  the  fpace  it 
H  %  ftands 


tea  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

flands  on !  four  hundred  and  fixty-feven  of 
my  fteps  carried  me  from  the  door  to  the 
end;  Warwick  caftle  would  be  contained  in 
its  middle  ai/Ie.  -Here  are  one  hundred  and 
twenty  filver  lamps$  each  larger  than  I  could 
lift,  conftantly  burning  round  the  altar ;  and 
one  never  fees  either  them,  or  the  light  they 
difpenfej  .till  forced  upon  the  obfervaticn  ot 
themj  fo  completely  are  they  loft  in  the  ge- 
iieral  grandeur  of  the  whole.  In  fhort,  with 
a  profufion  of  wealth  that  aftonifties,  and  of 
fplendour  tliat  dazzles^  as  foon  as  you  enter 
on  an  examination  of  its  fecondary  parts^ 
every  man's  Jirft  impreflion  at  entering  St. 
Peter's  church,  muft  be  furprife  at  feeing  it 
fo  clear  of  fuperfluous  ornament.  This  is  the 
true  character  of  innate  excellence,  the^/w- 
plex  munditiiS)  or  freedom  from  decoration ;  the 
noble  fimplicity  to  which  no  embellifhment 
cat!  add  dignity,  but  feems  a  mere  ap- 
pendage. Getting  on  the  top  of  this  ftupen* 
dous  edifice,  is  however  the  readied  way  to 
fill  one's  mind  with  a  deferving  notion  of  its 
extent,  capacity,  and  beauty ;  nor  is  any 
operation  eafier,  fo  happily  contrived  is  the 
afcent.  Contrivance  here  is  an  ill-chofen 
tvord  too,  fo  luminous  fo  convenient  is  the 

walk, 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.       101 

walk,  fo  fpacious  the  galleries  befide,  that  all 
idea  of  danger  is  removed,  when  you  per- 
ceive that  even  round  the  undefended  cor- 
nice, our  king's  ftate  coach  might  be  mofl 
fafely  driven. 

The  monuments,  although  incomparable, 
fcarcely  obtain  a  mare  of  your  admiration 
for  the  firft  ten  times  of  your  furveying  the 
place ;  Guglielmo  della  Porta's  famous  figure, 
iupporting  that  dedicated  to  the  memory  of 
Paul  the  Third,  was  found  fo  happy  an  imi- 
tation of  female  beauty  by  fome  madman 
here  however,  that  it  is  faid  he  was  inflamed 
with  a  Pigmalion-like  paflion  for  it,  of  which 
the  Pontiff  hearing,  commanded  the  ftatue 
to  be  draped.  The  fteps  at  almoft  the  end 
of  this  church  we  have  all  heard  were  por- 
phyry, and  fo  they  are  ;  how  many  hundred 
feet  long  I  have  now  forgotten  : — no  matter ; 
what  I  have  not  forgotten  is,  that  I  thought  as 
I  looked  at  them-— why  fo  \beyjljoyld  be  por- 
phyry—and that  was  all.  While  the  vafes 
and  citterns  of  the  fame  beautiful  fubftance  at 
Villa  Borghefe  attracted  my  wonder ;  and 
Clement  X.'s  urn  at  St.  John  de  Lateran, 
appeared  to  me  an  urn  fitter  for  the  afhes  of 
an  Egyptian  monarch,  Bufiris  or  Sefoftris, 
H  3  than 


jo*  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

than  for  a  Chriflian  prieft  or  fovereign,  fince 
univerfal  dominion  has  been  abolifhed.  No* 
thing,  however,  fan  look  very  grand  in  St, 
Peter's  church ;  and  though  I  faw  the  ge- 
neral benediction  given  (I  hope  partook  it) 
upon  Eafter  day,  my  conftant  impreffion  was, 
that  the  people  were  below  the  place ;  no 
pomp,  no  glare,  no  dove  and  glory  on  the 
chair  of  {late,  but  what  looked  too  little  for 
the  area  that  contained  them.  Sublimity  dif- 
dains  to  catch  the  vulgar  eye,  fhe  elevates  the 
foul ;  nor  can  long-drawn  procelTions,  or 
fplendid  ceremonies,  fuffice  to  content  thofo 
travellers  wl.o  leek  for  images  that  never  tar- 
nifh,  and  for  truths  that  never  can  decay. 
Pius  Sextus,  in  his  morning  drefs,  paying  his 
private  devotions  at  the  altar,  without  any 
pageantry,  and  with  very  few  attendants, 
{truck  me  more  a  thoufand  and  a  thoufand 
times,  than  when  arrayed  in  gold,  in  colours,  . 
and  diamonds,  he  was  carried  to  the  front  of 
a  balcony  big  enough  to  have  contained  the; 
conclave  ;  and  there,  {haded  by  two  white 
fans,  which,  though  really  enormous,  looked 
no  larger  than  that  a  girl  carries  in  her  pocket, 
pronounced  words  which  on  account  of  the 
height  they  came  from  were  difficult  to  hear. 

All 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        103 

All  this  is  known  and  felt  by  the  managers 
of  thefe  theatrical  exhibitions  fo  certainly,  that 
they  jtidicioufly  confine  great  part  of  them  to 
the  Capclla  Seftini,  which  being  large  enough 
to  imprefs  the  mind  with  its  folemnity,  anci 
not  fpacious  enough  for  the  priefts,  congre- 
gation, and  all,  to  be  loft  in  it,  is  well  adapted 
for  thole  various  functions  that  really  make 
Rome  a  fcene  of  perpetual  gala  during  the 
holy  week ;  which  an  Englifh  friend  here 
protefted  to  me  he  had  never  fpent  with  fo 
little  devotion  in  his  life  before.  The  mifc- 
rcre  has,  however,  a  ftrong  power  over  one's 
mind — the  abfence  of  all  inftrumental  mufic, 
the  fteadinefs  of  fo  many  human  voices,  the 
gloom  of  the  place,  the  picture  of  Michael 
Angelo's  laft  judgment  covering  its  walls, 
united  with  the  mourning  drefs  of  the  fpec- 
tators — is  altogether  calculated  with  great  in-r 
genuity  to  give  a  fudden  ftroke  to  the  imagi- 
nation, and  kindle  that  temporary  blaze  of 
devotion  it  is  wifely  enough  intended  to  ex- 
cite :  but  even  this  has  much  of  its  effect  de- 
ftroyed,  from  the  admiflion  of  too  many 
people  :  crowd  and  buftle,  and  ftruggle  for 
places,  leave  no  room  for  any  ideas  to  range 
H  4  themfelvcs, 


104  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

themfelves,  and  leaft  of  all,  ferious  ones :  nor 
would  the  opening  of  our  facred  mufic  in 
Weftminfter  Abbey,  when  nine  hundred  per- 
formers join  to  celebrate  MeJJlah\  praifes, 
make  that  impreflion  which  it  does  upon  the 
mind,  were  not  the  king,  and  court,  and  all 
the  audience,  as  ftill  as  death,  wheii  the  firft 
note  is  taken. 

The  ceremony  of  warning  the  pilgrims  feet 
is  a  pleafmg  one  :  it  is  feen  in  high  perfection 
here  at  Rome ;  where  all  that  the  pope  per- 
fonally  performs  is  done  with  infinite  grace, 
and  with  an  air  of  mingled  majefty  and  fweet- 
nefs,  difficult  to  hit,  but  fmgularly  becoming 
in  him,  who  is  both  prieft  of  God,  and  fove- 
reign  of  his  people. 

But  how,  faid  Cyrus,  fhall  I  make  men 
think  me  more  excellent  than  themfelves  ?  By 
being  really  fo,  replies  Xenophon,  putting  his 
words  into  the  mouth  of  Cambyfes.  Pius 
Sextus  takes  no  deeper  method  I  believe,  yet 
all  acknowledge  his  fuperiour  merit :  No 
prince  can  lefs  affect  flate,  nor  no  clergyman 
can  lefs  adopt  hypocritical  behaviour.  The 
Pope  powders  his  hair  like  any  other  of  the 
Cardinals,  and  is,  it  feems,  the  iirft  who  has 
ever  done  fo.  When  he  takes  the  air  it  is  in 

a  fa- 
te 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         105 

a  faflrionable  carriage,  \vith  a  few,  a  very  few 
guards  on  horfeback,  and  is  by  no  means  de- 
firous  of  making  himfelf  a  mew.  Now  and 
then  an  old  woman  begs  his  bleffing  as  he 
pafles  ;  but  I  almoft  remember  the  time  when 
our  bifhops  of  Bangor  and  St.  Afaph  were 
followed  by  the  country  people  in  North 
Wales  full  as  much  or  more,  and  with  juft 
the  fame  feelings.  One  man  in  particular 
we  ufed  to  talk  of,  who  came  from  a  diftant 
part  of  our  mountainous  province,  with  much 
expence  in  proportion  to  his  abilities,  poor 
fellow,  and  terrible  fatigue  ;  he  was  a  tenant 
of  my  father's,  who  afked  him  how  he  ven- 
tured to  undertake  fo  troublefome  a  journey  ? 
It  was  to  get  my  good  Lord's  blefling,  replied 
the  farmer,  /  hope  it  •will  cure  my  rheumatifm* 
Kifling  the  flipper  at  Rome  will  probably,  in 
a  hundred  years  more,  be  a  thing  to  be  thus 
faintly  recollected  by  a  few  very  old  people  ; 
and  it  is  ftrange  to  me  it  fhould  have  lafted  fo 
long.  No  man  better  knows  than  the  prefent 
learned  and  pious  fucceflbr  of  St.  Peter,  that 
St.  Peter  himfelf  would  permit  no  act  of  ado- 
ration to  his  own  perfon  ;  and  that  he  feverely 
reproved  Cornelius  for  kneeling  to  him,  char- 
ging him  to  rife  and  ftand  upon  his  feet,  add- 
ing 


io6  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

ing  thefe  remarkable  words,  feeing  I  alfo  am  a 
man  *.  Surely  it  will  at  laft  be  found  out 
among  them  that  fuch  a  ceremony  is  inconfif- 
tent  with  the  Pope's  character  as  a  Chrif- 
tian  prieft,  however  it  may  fuit  ftate  matters 
to  continue  it  in  the  character  of  a  fovereign. 
The  road  he  is  now  making  on  every  fide  his 
capital  to  facilitate  foreigners  approach,  the 
money  he  has  laid  out  on  the  conveniencies 
of  the  Vatican,  the  defire  he  feels  of  reforming 
a  police  much  in  want  of  reformation,  joined 
to  an  immaculate  character  for  private  virtue 
and  an  elegant  tafte  for  the  fine  arts,  muft 
make  every  one  wifh  for  a  long  continuance 
of  his  health  and  dignity ;  though  the  wits 
and  jokers,  when  they  fee  his  arms  up,  as  they 
are  often  placed  in  galleries,  &c.  about  the 
palace,  and  confifl  of  a  zephyr  blowing  on  a 
flower,  a  pair  of  eagle's  wings,  and  a  few  ftars, 
have  invented  this  Epigram,  to  fay  that  when 
the  Emperor  has  got  his  eagle  back,  the  King  of 
France  his  fleurs  de  lys,  and  the  ftars  are  gone 
to  heaven,  Brafchi  will  have  nothing  left  him 
but  the  wind: 

Redde  aquilam  Caefari,  Francorum  liliaregi, 
Sydera  redde  polo,  csetera  Brafche  tibi. 

*  Surge,  et  ego  ipfe  homo  fum.  VULGATE. 

Thefe 


JOURNEY    THROUGH  ITALY.        107 

Thefe  verfes  were  given  me  by  an  agreeable 
Benedictine  Friar,  member  of  a  convent  be- 
longing to  St.  Paul's/k/r  delle  mura  ;  he  was 
a  learned  man,  a  native  of  Ragufa,  had  been 
particularly  intimate  with  Wortley  Montague, 
\vhofe  variety  of  acquirements  had  imprefled 
him  exceedingly. 

He  me  wed  us  the  curiofities  of  his  church, 
the  fined  in  Rome  next  to  St.  Peter's,  and  had 
filver  gates  ;  but  the  plating  is  worn  off  and 
only  the  brafs  remains.  There  is  an  old  Egyp- 
tian candleftick  above  five  feet  high  preferved 
here,  and  many  other  Angularities  adorn  the 
church.  The  Pillars  are  136  in  number,  all 
marble,  and  each  confiding  of  one  unjoined 
and  undivided  piece ;  40  of  thefe  are  fluted, 
and  two  which  did  belong  to  a  temple  of  Mars 
are  feven  feet  and  a  half  each  in  diameter. 
Here  is  likewife  the  place  where  Nero  ran  for 
refuge  to  the  houfe  of  his  freed-man,  and  in 
the  cloifter  a  ftone,  with  this  infcription  on  it, 

Hocfpetus  accepit  pcft  aurea  tefta  Neronem  *. 

Here  is  an  altar  fupported  by  four  pillars  of 
red  porphyry,  and  here  are  the  pictures  of  all 
the  popes  ;  St.  Peter  firft,  and  our  prefent  Braf- 

*  This  hiding-hole  received    Nero  after   his  golden 
17  chi 


io8  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

chi  laft.  It  has  given  much  occafion  for  chat 
that  there  mould  now  be  no  room  left  to  hang 
a  fucceflbr's  portrait,  and  that  he  who  now 
occupies  the  chair  is  painted  in  powdered  hair 
and  a  white  head-drefs,  fuch  as  he  wears  every 
day,  to  the  great  affliction  of  his  courtiers,  who 
recommended  the  ufual  ftate  diadem ;  but  "  No, 
no,"  faid  he,  "  there  have  been  red  cap  Popes 
enough,  mine  mail  be  only  white,  and  wbiteit  is. 
This  beautiful  edifice  was  built  by  the 
Emperor  Theodofius,  and  there  is  an  old 
picture  at  the  top,  of  our  Saviour  giving  the 
benediction  in  the  form  that  all  the  Greek 
priefts  give  it  now.  Apropos,  there  have 
been  many  fects  of  Oriental  Chriftians  dropt 
into  the  Church  of  Rome  within  thefe  late 
years  ;  a  very  venerable  old  Armenian  fays 
Greek  mafs  regularly  in  St.  Peter's  church 
every  day  before  one  particular  altar ;  his  long 
black  drefs  and  white  beard  attracted  much  of 
my  notice ;  he  faw  it  did,  and  now  whenever 
we  meet  in  the  ftreet  by  chance  he  kindly 
{lands  ftill  to  blefs  me.  But  the  Syriac  or 
Maronites  have  a  church  to  themfelves  juft 
by  the  Bocca  della  Verlta  ;  and  extremely  cu* 
rious  we  thought  it  to  fee  their  ceremonies  upon 
Palm  Sunday,  when  their  aged  patriarch,  not 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.  ,09 
lefs  than  ninety-three  years  old,  and  richly  attir- 
ed with  an  inconvenient  weight  of  drapery,  and 
a  mitre  fhaped  like  that  of  Aaron  in  our  Bibles 
exactly,  was  fupported  by  two  olive  coloured 
orientals,  while  he  pronounced  a  benediction  on 
the  tree  that  flood  near  the  altar,  and  was  at  leaft 
ten  feet  high.  The  attendant  clergy,  habited 
after  their  own  eaflern  tafte,  and  very  fuperbly, 
had  broad  phylacteries  bound  on  their  foreheads 
after  the  fafhion  of  the  Jews,  and  carried  long 
ftrips  of  parchment  up  and  down  the  church 
with  the  law  written  on  them  in  Syriac  cha- 
racters, while  they  formed  themfelves  into  a 
proceflion  and  led  their  truly  reverend  prin- 
cipal back  to  his  place.  An  exhibition  fo 
ftriking,  with  the  view  of  many  monuments 
round  the  walls,  facred  to  the  memory  of 
fuch,  and  fuch  a  bifhop  of  Damafcus,  gave  fo 
flrong  an  impreflion  of  Afiatic  manners  to  the 
mind,  that  one  felt  glad  to  find  Europe  round 
one  at  going  out  again.  One  of  the  treafures 
much  renowned  in  it  we  have  feen  to-day, 
the  transfiguration  painted  by  Rafaelle  ;  it  was 
the  frjl  thing  the  Emperor  did  vifit  when  he 
came  to  Rome,  and  fo  a  Francifcan  Friar  who 
Ihews  it,  told  us.  He  faw  a  gentleman  walk 
into  church  it  feems,  and  leaving  his  friends 

at 


no  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

at  dinner,  went  out  to  converfe  with 
**  Pull  aftde  the  curtain.  Sir"  faid  the  ftranger* 
**  for  I  am  In  hajle  to  fee  this  mafter-piece  of 
yttur  immortal  Raphael"  I  was  as  willing  to  be 
in  a  hurry  as  be^  fays  the  Friar,  and  obferved 
how  fortunate  it  was  for  us  that  it  could  not 
be  moved,  otherwife  we  had  loft  it  long  ago  3 
for,  Sir,  faid  I,  they  would  have  carried  it  a* 
way  from  poor  Monte  Cltorla  to  fome  finef 
temple  long  ago  ;  though,  let  me  tell  you,  this 
is  an  elegant  Doric  building  too,  and  one  of 
Bramante's  beft  works,  much  admired  by  the 
Englifli  in  particular.  I  hope,  if  it  pleafe  God 
now  that  I  ihould  live  but  a  very  little  longer^ 
I  may  have  the  honour  of  {hewing  it  the  Em- 
fcror.  "  Is  he  expected  ?"  enquired  the 
gentleman.  "  Every  day,  Sir,'*  replies  the  Friar* 
«*  And  well  now"  cries  the  foreigner,  "  what 
fort  of  a  man  do  you  expert  to  fee  ?  Why, 
Sir,  you  feem  a  traveller,  did  you  ever  fee  him  ?'* 
quoth  the  Francifcan.  "  Yes,  fure,  my  good 
friend,  very  often  indeed,  he  is  as  plain  a  man 
as  myfelf,  has  good  intentions,  and  an  honeffc 
keart ;  and  I  think  you  would  like  him  if  you 
knew  him,  becaufe  he  puts  nobody  out  of 
their  •way." 

This 


JOURNEY    THROUGH  ITALY.        m 

This  'dialogue,  natural  and  fimple,  had  taken 
fuch  hold  of  our  good  Pc£gtetui$  fancy,  that 
not  a  word  would  he  fay  about  the  picture, 
while  his  imagination  was  fo  full  of  the  prince, 
and  of  his  own  amazement  at  the  falutation 
of  his  companions,  when  returning  to  the  re- 
feftory ; — "  Why,  Gaetano,"  cried  they,  "  thou 
haft  been  converfing  with  Cafar :"— I  too 
liked  the  tale,  becaufe  it  was  artlefs,  and  be- 
caufe  it  was  true.  But  the  picture  furpafles 
all  praife;  the  woman  kneeling  on  the  fore- 
ground, her  back  to  the  fpectators,  feems  a 
repetition  of  the  figure  in  Raphael's  famous 
picture  of  the  Vatican  on  fire,  that  is  {hewn  in 
the  chambers  called  particularly  by  his  name; 
where  theperfonifications  of  Juftice  and  Meek- 
nefs,  engraved  by  Strange,  feize  one's  atten- 
tion very  forcibly :  it  is  obfervable,  that  the 
lirft  is  every  body's  favourite  in  the  painting, 
the  laft  in  the  engraving. 

Raphael's  Bible,  as  one  of  the  long  gal* 
leries  is  comically  called  by  the  connoifleurs, 
breaks  one's  neck  to  look  at  it.  The  ftories, 
beginning  with  Adam  and  Eve,  are  painted  in 
fmail  compartments;  the  colouring  as  vivid 
as  if  it  were  done  laft  week;  and  the 

arabcfques 


In  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

arabefques  fo  gay  and  pretty,  they  are  very 
often  reprefented  on  fans ;  and  we  have  fine 
engravings  in  England  of  all,  yet,  though  ex- 
quifitely  done,  they  give  one  fomehow  a  falfe 
notion  of  the  whole :  fo  did  Piranefi's  prints 
too,  though  invaluable,  when  confidered  by 
themfelves  as  proofs  of  the  artift's  merit.  His 
judicious  manner,  however,  of  keeping  all 
coarfe  objects  from  interfering  with  the  grand 
ones,  though  it  mightily  increafes  the  dignity, 
and  adds  to  the  fpirit  of  his  performance,  is 
apt  to  lead  him  who  wifhes  for  information, 
into  a  ftyle  of  thinking  that  will  at  laft  pro* 
duce  difappointment  as  to  general  appear- 
ances, which  here  at  Rome  is  really  difpro- 
portionate  to  the  aftonilhing  productions  of 
art  contained  within  its  walls* 

But  I  muft  leave  this  glorious  Vatican,  with 
the  perpetual  regret  of  having  feen  fcarcely 
any  thing  of  its  invaluable  library,  except  the, 
prodigious  fize  and  judicious  ornaments  of  it : 
neither  book  nor  MS.  could  I  prevail  on  the 
librarian  to  mew  me,  except  fome  love-letters 
from  Henry  the  Eighth  of  England  to  Anne 
Boleyn,  which  he  faid  were  moft  likely  to  in- 
tereft  me:  they  were  very  grofs  and  in- 
decent ones  to  be  fure  5  fo  I  felt  offended,  and 

went 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        1,3 

went  away,  in  a  very  ill  humour,  to  fee  Caftle 
St.  Angelo ;  where  the  emperor  Adrian  in- 
tended perpetually  to  repofe ;  but  the  urn 
containing  his  allies  is  now  kept  in  a  garden 
belonging  to  one  of  the  courts  in  the  palace, 
near  the  Apollo  and  other  Greek  ftatues  of  pe* 
culiar  excellence.  From  his  tomb  too,  fome 
of  the  pillars  of  St.  Paul's  were  taken,  and  this 
fplendid  maufolseum  converted  into  a  fort  of 
citadel,  where  Sixtus  Quintus  depofited  three 
millions  of  gold,  it  is  faid  ;  and  Alexander  the 
Sixth  retired  to  fhield  himfelf  from  Charles 
the  Eighth  of  France,  who  entered  Rome  by 
torch-light  in  1494,  and  forced  the  Pope  to 
give  him  what  the  French  hiftorians  call 
r'mvejliture  du  royaume  de  Naples;  after  which 
he  took  Capua,  and  made  his  conquering 
entry  into  Naples  the  February  following, 
1495  ;  Ferdinand,  fon  of  Alphonfo,  flying 
before  him.  This  Pope  was  the  father  of  the 
famous  Csefar  Borgia  ;  and  it  was  on  this  oc- 
cafion,  I  believe,  that  the  French  wits  made 
the  well-known  diftich  on  his  notorious  ava- 
rice and  rapacity : 

Vendit  Alexander  claves,  altaria,  Chriftum, 
Vendere  jure  poteft,  emerat  ille  prius*. 

*  Our  Alexander  fells  keys,  altars,  heaven  ; 

When  law  and  right  are  fold,  he'll  buy  :— that's  even. 

VOL.  II.  I  This 


114  OBSERVATIONS   IN    A 

This  Caftle  St.  Angelo  went  once,  I  be- 
lieve, under  the  name  of  the  ^Slian  Bridge, 
when  the  emperor  Adrian  firft  fixed  his  mind 
on  making  a  monument  for  himfelf  there- 
The  foldiers  of  Belifarius  are  faid  to  have  de- 
ftroyed  numberlefs  ftatues  which  then  adorned 
it,  by  their  odd  manner  of  defending  the  place 
from  the  Gothic  aflaulters.  It  is  now  a  fort 
of  tower  for  the  confinement  of  ftate  pri- 
Ibners ;  and  decorated  with  many  well-paint- 
ed, but  ill-kept  pictures  of  Polydore  and  Julio 
Romano. 

The  fire-works  exhibited  here  on  Eafter- 
day  are  the  completed  things  of  their  kind  in 
the  world  ;  three  thoufand  rockets,  all  fent  up 
into  the  air  at  once,  make  a  wonderful  burft 
indeed,  and  ferve  as  a  pretty  imitation  of  Ve- 
fuvius  :  the  lighting  up  of  the  building  too 
on  a  fudden  with  fire-pots,  had  a  new  and 
beautiful  effect ;  we  all  liked  the  entertain- 
ment vaftly. 

I  looked  here  for  what  fome  French  recueil, 
Menagiana  if  I  remember  rightly,  had  taught 
me  to,  expect;  this  was  fome  brafs  cannon  be- 
longing to  Chriftina  queen  of  Sweden,  who 
had  caufed  them  to  be  caft,  and  added  an 

engraving 


JOURNEY   THROUGH    ITALY.        115 

engraving  on  them  with  thefe  remarkable 
words ; 

Habet  fua  fulmina  Juno  *. 

No  fuch  thing,  however,  could  be  found  or 
heard  of.  Indeed  a  fearch  after  truth  requires 
fuch  patience,  fuch  penetration,  and  fuch 
learning,  that  it  is  no  wonder  me  is  fo  feldom 
got  a  glimpfe  of;  whoever  is  diligently  de- 
firous  to  find  her,  is  fo  perplexed  by  igno- 
rance, fo  retarded  by  caution,  fo  confounded 
by  different  explications  of  the  fame  thing  re- 
curring at  every  turn,  fo  fickened  with  filly 
credulity  on  the  one  hand,  and  fo  offended 
with  pertnefs  and  pyrrhonifm  on  the  other, 
that  it  is  fairly  rendered  impoflible  for  one  to 
keep  clear  of  prejudices,  while  the  fteady  re- 
folution  to  do  fo  becomes  itfelf  a  prejudice.— 
But  with  regard  to  little  follies,  it  is  better  to 
laugh  at  than  lament  them. 

We  were  {hewn  one  morning  lately  the 
fpot  where  it  is  fuppofed  St.  Paul  fuffered 
decapitation  ;  and  our  Cicerone  pointed  out  to 
us  three  fountains,  about  the  warmth  of  Bux- 
ton,  Matlock,  or  Briftol  water,  which  were 
faid  to  have  burft  from  the  ground  at  the 
moment  of  his  martyrization.  A  Dutch  gen- 
*  Juno  too  has  her  thunder, 

I  *  tleman 


ii6  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

tleman  in  company,  and  a  ftcady  Calvinift, 
loudly  ridiculed  the  tradition,  called  it  an  idle 
tale,  and  triumphantly  exprefled  his  certain 
conviction,  that  fuch  an  event  could  not  poffibly 
have  ever  taken  place.  To  this  aflertion  no 
reply  was  made  ;  and  as  we  drove  home  all 
together,  the  converfation  having  taken  a 
wide  range  and  a  different  turn,  he  related  in 
the  courfe  of  it  a  long  Roufleau-like  tale  of  a 
lady  he  once,  knew,  who  having  the  ftrongeft 
poffible  attachment  to  one  lover,  married  an- 
other upon  principles  of  filial  obedience,  ftill 
retaining  inviolate  her  paffion  for  the  object 
of  her  choice,  who,  adorned  with  every  ex- 
cellence and  every  grace,  continued  a  cor- 
refpondence  with  her  acrofs  the  Atlantic  ocean ; 
having  inftantly  changed  his  hemifphere,  not 
to  give  the  hufband  difturbance  ;  who  on  his 
part  admired  their  letters,  many  of  which  were 
written  in  his  praife,  who  had  fo  cruelly  in- 
terrupted their  felicity.  Seeing  fome  marks 
of  difbelief  in  my  countenance,  he  begun  ob- 
ferving,  in  an  altered  tone  of  voice,  that  com- 
mon and  vulgar  minds  might  hold  fuch  events 
to  be  out  of  poflibility,  and  fuch  fentiments 
to  be  out  of  nature,  but  it  was  only  becaufe 
they  were  above  the  comprehenfion  and  beyond 

the 

12 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        117 

the  reach  of  people  educated  in  large  and  cor- 
rupt capitals,  Paris,  Rome,  or  London,  to  think 
true.  Now  was  not  fome  fhare  of  good 
breeding  (beft  learned  in  great  capitals  per- 
haps) neceflary  to  prevent  one  from  retorting 
upon  fuch  an  orator — that  it  was  more  likely 
nature  fhould  have  been  permitted  to  deviate 
in  favour  of  Paul  the  apoftle  of  Jefus  Chrift, 
than  of  a  fat  inhabitant  of  North  Zealand,  no 
way  diftinguifhed  from  the  mafs  of  mankind  ? 

But  we  have  been  called  to  pafs  fome  mo- 
ments on  the  Csdian  hill;  and  fee  the  Chief  a 
dl  San  Gregorio^  interefting  above  all  others 
to  travellers  who  delight  in  the  veftiges  of 
Pagan  Rome  :  as,  having  been  built  upon  a 
Patrician's  houfe,  it  flill  to  a  great  degree  re- 
tains the  form  of  one ;  while  to  the  fcholar  who 
is  pleafed  with  anecdotes  of  ecclefiaftical  hif- 
tory,  the  days  recur  when  the  ftone  chair 
they  fhew  us,  contented  the  meek  and  vene- 
rable bifhop  of  Rome  who  fate  in  it,  while 
his  gentle  fpirit  fought  the  welfare  of  every 
Chriftian,  and  refufed  to  perfecute  even  the 
benighted  and  unbelieving  Jews  ;  oppofmg 
only  the  arms  of  piety  and  prayer,  to  the  few 
enemies  his  tranfcendent  excellence  had  raifed 
I  3  him. 


ii8  OBSERVATIONS   IN   A 

him.  His  picture  here  is  confidered  as  a 
mafter-piece  of  Annibale  Caracci ;  and  it  is 
flrange  to  think  that  the  trial-pieces,  as  they 
are  called,  fhould  be  erroneoufly  treated  of  in 
the  Carpenteriana :  when  fpeaking  of  the 
contention  between  the  two  fcholars,  to  decide 
which  the  matter  fent  for  an  old  woman, 
Monfieur  de  Carpentier  tells  us  the  difpute  lay 
between  Domenichino  and  Albano — a  grofs 
miftake ;  as  it  was  Guido,  not  Albano,  who 
ventured  to  paint  fomething  in  rivalry  with 
Domenichino,  relative  to  St.  Andrew  and  his 
martyrdom;  and  thefe  trial-pieces  produced 
from  her  the  fame  preference  given  by  every 
fpectator  who  has  feen  them  fmce  :  for  when 
Caracci  (unwilling  to  offend  either  of  his  fcho- 
lars, as  both  were  men  of  the  higheft  rank 
and  talents)  enquired  of  her  whatj^f  thought 
of  Guide's  performance  ? — "  Indeed,"  replied 
the  old  woman,  "  I  have  never  yet  looked  at 
it,  fo  fully  has  my  mind  been  occupied  by  the 
powers  ihewn  in  that  of  Domenichino." 

The  vecchia  is  here  at  Rome  the  common 
phrafe  when  fpeaking  of  your  only  female  ier- 
vant,  a  perfon  not  unlike  an  Oxford  or  Cam- 
bridge bed-maker  in  appearance  ;  and  much 

amazed 


JOURNEY   THROUGH   ITALY.        119 

amazed  was  I  two  days  ago  at  the  anfwer  of 
our  veccbla,  when  curiofity  prompted  me  to 
afk  her  age : — "  0,  Madam ,  I  am  a  very  aged 
woman?  was  the  reply,  "  and  have  two 
grandchildren  married ;  I  am  forty-two  years 
old,  poveretta  me !"  I  told  an  Italian  gentle- 
man who  dined  with  us  what  Caterina  had 
faid,  and  begged  him  to  afk  the  laquais  de 
place,  who  waited  on  us  at  table,  a  fimilar 
queftion.  He  appeared  a  large,  well-looking, 
fturdy  fellow,  about  thirty-eight  years  old ; 
but  faid  he  was  fcarce  twenty-two ;  that  he 
had  been  married  fix  years,  and  had  five  chil- 
dren. How  old  was  your  wife  when  you 
met  ? — "  Thirteen,  Sir,"  anfwered  Carlo  :  fo 
all  is  kept  even  at  leaft  ;  for  if  they  end  life 
fooner  than  in  colder  climates,  they  begin  it 
earlier  it  is  plain. 

Yet  fuch  things  feem  ftrange  to  us ;  fo  do 
a  thoufand  which  occur  in  thefe  warm  coun- 
tries in  the  commoneft  life.  Brick  floors,  for 
example,  with  hangings  of  a  dirty  printed 
cotton,  affording  no  bad  flicker  for  fpiders, 
bugs,  &c. ;  a  table  in  the  fame  room,  encruft- 
ed  with  verd  antique,  very  fine  and  worthy  of 
\Vilton  houfe  ;  with  fome  exceeding  good 
I  4  copies 


izo  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

copies  of  the  fin  eft  pictures  here  at  Rome; 
form  the  furniture  of  our  prefent  lodging  : 
and  now  we  have  got  the  little  cafement  win- 
dows clean  to  look  at  it,  I  pafs  whole  hours 
admiring,  even  in  the  copy,  our  glorious  de- 
fcent  from  the  crofs,  by  Daniel  de  Volterra ; 
which  to  fay  truth  lofes  lefs  than  many  a  great 
performance  of  the  fame  kind,  becaufe  its 
merits  confifl  in  compofition  and  defign  ;  and 
as  fentiment,  not  ftyle,  is  tranflatable,  fo 
grouping  and  putting  figures  finely  together 
can  be  eafier  tranfmitted  by  a  copy,  than  the 
meaner  excellencies  of  colouring  and  fmifh- 
jng.  Homer  and  Cervantes  may  be  enjoyed 
by  thofe  who  never  learned  their  language,  at 
leaft  to  a  great  degree ;  while  a  true  tafle  of 
Gray's  Odes  or  Martial's  Epigrams  has  been 
hitherto  found  exceedingly  difficult  to  com- 
municate. It  would,  however,  be  cruel  to 
deny  the  merit  of  colouring  to  Daniel  de  Vol- 
terra's  defcent  from  the  crofs,  only  becaufe 
being  painted  in  frefco  it  has  fullered  fo  ter^ 
ribly  by  time  and  want  of  care,  but  it  is  now 
kept  covered,  and  they  remove  the  curtain 
when  any  body  defires  to  contemplate  its  va- 
rious beauties, 

The 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.        121 

The  church  of  Santa  Maria  Maggiore  has 
been  too  long  unfpoken  of,  rich  as  it  is  with 
the  firft  gold  torn  from  the  unfortunate  abo- 
rigines of  America  ;  a  prefent  from  Ferdinand 
and  Ifabella  of  Spain  to  the  Pope,  in  return 
for  that  permiflion'  he  had  given  them  to 
exert  and  eftablifh  their  ianguinary  fway  over 
thofe  lucklefs  nations.  One  pillar  from  the 
temple  of  Peace  is  an  ill-adapted  ornament  to 
this  edifice,  built  nearly  in  the  form  of  an 
ancient  baftltca ;  and  with  fo  expenfive  a 
quantity  of  gilding,  that  it  is  faid  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thoufand  pounds  were  expend- 
ed on  one  chapel  only,  which  is  at  laft  inferior 
in  fame  and  beauty  to  cappella  Corfini ;  in 
riches  and  magnificence  to  cappella  Borgbcfe^ 
where  an  amethyft  frame  of  immenfe  value 
furrounds  the  names,  in  gold  cypher,  of  our 
blefled  Saviour  and  his  Mother,  the  ground 
of  which  is  of  tranfparent  jafper,  and  cannot 
be  matched  for  elegance  or  perfection,  being 
at  leaft  four  feet  high  (the  tablets  I  mean), 
and  three  feet  wide,  But  to  this  Borghefe 
family,  I  am  well  perfuaded,  it  would  be  a 
real  fatigue  to  count  the  wealth  which  they 
enjoy. 

Villa 


122  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Villa  Pamphili  is  a  lovely  place,  or  might 
be  made  fo  ;  but  laying  out  pleafure  grounds 
is  not  the  forte  of  Italian  tafte.  I  never  faw 
one  of  them,  exceptLomellino  of  Genoa,  who 
had  higher  notions  of  a  garden  than  what  an 
opera  fcene  affords ;  arid  that  is  merely  a  range 
of  trees  in  great  pots  with  gilded  handles,  and 
rows  of  tall  cypreffes  planted  one  between 
every  two  pots,  all  ftraight  over  againft  each 
other  in  long  lines;  with  an  octangular  marble 
bafon  to  hold  water  in  the  middle,  covered 
for  the  moft  part  with  a  thick  green  fcum. 

At  Villa  Pamphili  is  a  picture  of  Sanctorius, 
\vho  made  the  weighing  balance  fpoken  of  by 
Addifon  in  the  Spectator;  it  was  originally 
contrived  for  the  Pamphili  Pope.  And  here  is 
an  old  ftatue  of  Clodius  profaning  the  myfteries 
of  the  Bona  Dea,  as  we  read  in  the  Roman 
hiftory.  And  here  are  camels  working  in  the 
park  like  horfes :  we  found  them  playing 
about  at  their  leifure  when  we  were  at  Pifa, 
and  at  Milan  they  were  fhewed  for  a  fhow ; 
fo  little  does  one  ftate  of  Italy  connect  with 
another.  Thefe  three  cities  cannot  poflibly 
be  much  further  from  each  other  than  Lon- 
don, York,  and  Exeter;  yet  the  manners  differ 

entirely, 


JOUfcNEY   THROUGH    ITALY.        123 

entirely,  and  what  is  done  in  one  place  is  not 
known  at  all  in  the  other.  It  muft  be  re- 
membered that  they  are  all  feparate  ftates. 

At  the  Farnefini  palace  our  amufements  were 
of  a  nature  very  contrary  to  this  ;  but  every 
place  produces  amufement  when  one  is  will- 
ing to  be  pleafed.  After  looking  over  the 
various  and  ineftimable  productions  of  art 
contained  there,  we  came  at  laft  to  the  cele- 
brated marriage  of  Alexander's  Roxana; 
where,  fay  fome  of  the  books  of  defcription, 
the  world's  greateft  hero  is  reprefented  by 
Europe's  greateft  painter.  Some  French  gen- 
tlemen were  in  our  company,  and  looking 
fteadily  at  the  picture  for  a  while,  one  of  them 
exclaimed,  "  A  lajin  voila  ce  qui  efl  vrayment 
noble ;  cet  Alexandre  la;  it parolt  effeftivement 
le  roy  de  France  menu  *." 

The  Spada  palace  boafts  Guercino's  Dido, 
fo  difliked  by  the  critics,  who  fay  fhe  looks 
fpitted  j  but  extremely  efteemed  by  thofe  that 
underftand  its  merit  in  other  refpects.  There 
is  alfo  the  very  ftatue  kept  at  this  palace,  at 
the  feet  of  which  Csefar  fell  when  he  was 
affaffinated  at  the  capitol :  thofe  who  fhew  it 

*  Here's  fomething  at  laft  that's  truly  great  however  ! 
this  Alexander  looks  fit  to  be  king  of  France. 

never 


IS4  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

never  fail  to  relate  his  care  to  die  gracefully ; 
which  was  likewife  the  laft  defire  that 
occupied  Lucretia's  mind :  Auguftus  too, 
juftly  confidering  his  life  as  fcenical,  defired 
the  plaudits  of  his  friends  at  its  concluflon  : 
arid  even  Flavius  Vefpafian,  a  plain  man  as 
one  ihould  think  during  a  pretty  large  por- 
tion of  his  exiftence,  wifhed  at  laft  to  die  like 
an  emperor.  That  this  ftatue  of  Pompey 
fhould  have  been  accidentally  found  with  the 
head  lying  in  one  man's  ground  and  the  body 
in  another,  is  curious  enough  :  a  rage  for  ap- 
propriation gets  the  better  of  all  the  love  of 
arts  ;  fo  the  contending  parties  (like  the  lifters 
in  David  Simple,  with  their  fine-worked  car- 
pet) fairly  fevered  the  ftatue,  and  took  home 
each  his  half;  the  proprietor  of  this  palace 
meanwhile  purchafed  the  two  pieces,  ftuck 
them  once  more  together,  and  here  they  are. 
• — Pity  but  the  fovereign  had  carried  both  off 
for  himfelf. — Pius  Sextus  however  is  not  fo 
difpofed:  he  has  had  a  legacy  left  him  within 
thefe  laft  years,  to  the  prejudice  of  fome  no- 
bleman's heirs  ;  who  loudly  lamented  their 
fate,  and  bis  tyranny  who  could  take  advantage, 
as  they  exprefTed  .it,  of  their  relation's  ca- 
price. 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.  125 
price.  The  Pope  did  not  give  it  them  back, 
becauie  they  behaved  fo  ill,  he  faid  ^  but  nei- 
ther did  he  feize  what  was  left  him,  by  dint 
of  defpotic  authority  ;  be  went  to  law  with 
the  family  for  it,  which  I  thought  a  very 
.  ftrange  thing  ;  and  loft  bis  caufe,  which  I 
thought  a  ftill  ftranger. 

We  have  juft  been  to  fee  his  gardens;  they 
are  poor  things  enough  ;  and  the  device  of 
reprefenting  Vulcan's  cave  with  the  Cyclops, 
in  wtf/^r-works,  was  more  worthy  of  Ireland 
than  Rome  !  Monte  Cavallo  is  however  a 
palace  of  prodigious  dignity  ;  the  pictures 
beyond  meafure  excellent  ;  his  collection  of 
china-ware  valuable  and  tafteful,  and  there 
are  two  Mexican  jars  that  can  never  be 
equalled. 

Villa  Albani  is  the  moft  dazzling  of  any 
place  yet  however  ;  and  the  caryatid  pillars 
the  fineft  things  in  it,  though  replete  with 
wonders,  and  diftracting  with  objects  each 
worthy  a  whole  day's  attention.  Here  is  an 
antique  lift  of  Euripides's  plays  in  marble,  as 
thofe  tell  me  who  can  read  the  Greek  infcrip- 
tions ;  I  lofe  infinite  pleafure  every  day,  for 
want  of  deeper  learning.  Pillars  not  only  of 

glaW 


,26  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

glair  antique,  but  ofpaglia  *,  which  no  houfe 
but  this  poflefles,  amaze  and  delight  indofti 
doRlque  though  ;  the  Vatican  itfelf  cannot 
{hew  fuch  :  a  red  marble  mafk  here,  three 
feet  and  a  half  in  diameter,  is  unrivalled; 
they  tell  you  it  is  worth  its  own  weight  in 
louis  d'ors :  a  canopus  in  bafalt  too  ;  and  ca- 
meos by  the  thoufand. 

Mengs  mould  have  painted  a  more  elegant 
Apollo  for  the  centre  of  fuch  a  gallery ;  but 
his  mufes  make  amends ;  the  Viaggiana  fays 
they  are  all  portraits,  but  I  could  get  nobody 
to  tell  me  whofe.  The  Abbe  Winckelman, 
who  if  I  recollect  aright  loft  his  life  by  his 
paflion  for  virfu,  arranged  this  ftupendous 
collection,  in  conjunction  with  the  cardinal, 
whofe  tafte  was  by  all  his  contemporaries 
acknowledged  the  beft  in  Rome. 

We  were  carried  this  morning  to  a  cabinet 
of  natural  hiftory  belonging  to  another  car- 
dinal, but  it  did  not  anfwer  the  account  given 
of  it  by  our  conductors. 

What  has  moft  ftruck  me  here  as  a  real 
improvement  upon  focial  and  civil  life,  was 
the  fchool  of  Abate  Sylvefter,  who,  upon  the 

*  PagKa  is  a  ftraw- coloured  marble,  wonderfully  beau- 
tiful, and  extremely  rare  j  found  only  in  fome  northern 
trafts.of  Africa,  I  am  told  here. 

13  plan 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        1*7 

plan  of  Monfieur  L'Epe'e  at  Paris,  teaches  the 
deaf  and  dumb  people  to  fpeak,  read,  write, 
and  caft  accounts ;  he  likewife  teaches  them 
the  principles  of  logic,  and  inftructs  them  in 
the  facred  myfteries  of  our  holy  religion.  I 
am  not  naturally  credulous,  nor  apt  to  take 
payment  in  words  for  meanings;  much  of 
my  life  has  been  fpent,  and  all  my  youth  ^  in 
the  tuition  of  babies  ;  I  was  of  courfe  kfs 
likely  to  be  deceived  ;  and  I  can  fafely  fay, 
that  they  did  appear  to  have  learned  all  he 
taught  them  :  that  appearance  too,  if  it  were 
no  more,  is  fo  difficult  to  obtain,  the  patience 
required  from  the  mafter  is  fo  very  great,  and 
the  good  he  is  doing  to  mankind  fo  extenfive, 
that  I  did  not  like  offenfively  to  detect  the  dif- 
ference between  knowing  a  fyllogifm,  and  ap- 
pearing to  know  it.  With  regard  to  morality, 
the  pupils  have  certainly  gained  many  pras- 
cognita.  While  the  capital  fcholars  were  {hew- 
ing off  to  another  party,  I  addrefled  a  girl 
who  fat  working  in  the  window,  and  perceiv- 
ed that  (he  could  explain  the  meaning  of  the 
commandments  competently  well.  To  prove  the 
truth,  I  pretended  to  pick  a  gentleman's  pocket 
who  flood  near  me;  peccato  /  faid  the  wench 
diftinctly ;  me  was  about  ten  years  old  perhaps: 
but  a  little  boy  of  feven  was  defervcdly  the 

matter's 


128  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

matter's  favourite;  he  really  pofTefled  the  mofl 
intelligent  and  interefling  countenance  I  ever 
faw,and  when  to  explain  the  major, minor, and 
confequence,  he  put  the  two  firft  together  into 
his  hat  with  an  air  of  triumph,  we  were  en- 
chanted with  him.  Some  one  to  teize  him 
faid  he  had  red  hair;  he  inftantly  led  them  to 
a  picture  of  our  Saviour  which  hung  in  the 
room,  faid  it  was  the  fame  colour  of  his,  and 
ought  to  he  refpected. 

Surely  it  is  little  to  the  credit  of  us  Eng- 
lifh,  that  this  worthy  Abbe  Sylvefter  fhould 
have  a  ftipend  from  government  ;  that  Mon- 
fieur  L'Epee  de  Paris  mould  be  encouraged 
in  the  fame  good  work;  that  Mr.  Braidwood's 
Scotch  pupils  fhould  juftly  engage  every  one's 
notice  —  while  wejleep  !  A  friend  in  company 
feeing  me  fret  at  this,  afked  me  if  I,  or  any 
one  elfe,  had  ever  feen  or  heard  of  a  perfou 
really  qualified  for  the  common  duties  of  fo- 
ciety  by  any  of  thefe  profeffors  ; — "That  a 
deaf  and  dumb  man  fhould  underftand  how 
to  difcourfe  about  the  hypoftatic  union," 
added  he,  "  I  will  not  defire  ;  but  was  there 
ever  known  in  Paris,  Edinburgh,  or  Rome, 
a  deaf  and  dumb  fhoemaker,  carpenter,  or  tay- 
lor  ?  Or  did  ever  any  watchmaker,  fifh- 
nyonger,  or  wheelwright,  ever  keep  and  will- 
ingly 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALT.        129 

jngly  employ  a  deaf  and  dumb  journeyman?' 
— Nobody  replied  ;  and  we  went  on  our  way 
to  fee  what  was  eafier  decided  upon  and  un- 
derftood — the  tomb  of  Raphael  at  the  Pan- 
theon. 

Among  the  many  tours  that  have  been 
written,  a  mufical  tour,  an  aftronomical  tour, 
&c.  I  wonder  we  have  never  had  a  fepulchral 
tour,  making  the  tombs  of  famous  men  its  ob- 
ject of  attention.  That  Raphael,  Caracci,  with 
many  more  people  of  eminence,  fleep  at  the 
Pantheon,  is  however  but  a  fecondary  confi- 
deration  ;  few  can  think  of  the  monuments  in 
this  church,  till  they  have  often  contemplated 
its  architecture,  which  is  fo  finely  propor- 
tioned that  on  firft  entering  you  think  it 
{mailer  than  it  really  is :  the  pillars  are  enor- 
mous, the  fhafts  all  of  one  piece,  the  compo- 
fition  Egyptian  granite;  thefe  are  the  fixteen 
which  fupport  the  portico  built  by  Agrippa  ; 
whofe  car,  adorned  with  trophies  and  drawn, . 
by  brazen  horfes,  once  decorated  the  pedi- 
ment, where  the  Jholes  formed  by  the  cramps 
which  fattened  it  are  ftill  vifible.  Genferic 
changed  the  gate,  and  connoifleurs  know  not 
where  he  placed  that  which  Agrippa  made : 
the  present  gate  is  magnificent,  but  does  not 

VOL.  II.  K  fit 


i3o  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

fit  the  place  ;  much  of  the  brafs  plating  was 
removed  by  Urban  the  Eighth,  and  carried  to 
St.  Peter's  :  he  was  the  Barberini  pope  ;  and 
of  him  the  people  faid — 

Barbarini  faciunt  barbara,  &c. 

He  was  a  poet  however,  and  could  make  epi- 
grams himfelf ;  there  is  a  very  fine  edition  of 
his  poems  printed  at  Paris  under  the  title  of 
Maffei  Barberini  Poemata ;  and  fuch  was  his 
knowledge  of  Greek  literature,  that  he  was 
called  the  Attic  bee.  The  drunken  faun  afleep 
at  Palazzo  Barberini,  by  fome  accounted  the 
firft  ftatue  in  Rome,  we  owe  wholly  to  his 
care  in  its  prefervation. 

But  the  Pantheon  muft  not  be  quitted 
till  we  have  mentioned  its  pavement,  where 
the  precious  ftones  are  not  difpofed,  as  in 
many  churches,  without  tafte  or  care,  ap- 
parently by  chance ;  here  all  is  inlaid,  fo  as 
to  enchant  the  eye  with  its  elegance,  while 
it  dazzles  one  with  its  riches  :  the  black 
porphyry,  in  fmall  fquares,  difpofed  in 
compartments,  and  infcribed  as  one  may 
call  it  in  pavonazzino  perhaps ;  the  red, 
bounded  by  ferpentine ,  the  granites,  in  giall 

antique, 


JOUHNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.          131 

antique,  have  an  undefcribable  effecT: ;  no 
Florence  table  was  ever  fo  beautiful  :  nor  can 
we  here  regret  the  caryatid  pillars  faid  by 
Pliny  to  have  graced  this  temple  in  his  time; 
while  the  four  prodigious  columns,  two  of 
Egyptian  granite,  two  of  porphyry,  ilill  re- 
main, and  replace  them  fo  very  well.  Mon- 
tiofms,  who  fought  for  the  pillars  faid  by 
Pliny  to  have  been  placed  by  Diogenes,  an 
Athenian  architect,  as  fupporters  of  this 
temple,  relates  however,  that  in  the  year 
1580  he  faw  four  of  them  buried  in  the 
ground  as  high  as  their  fhoulders  :  but  it  does 
not  feem  a  tale  much  attended  to  ;  though  I 
confefs  my  own  defire  of  digging,  as  he  points 
out  the  place  fo  exactly,  on  the  right  hand 
fide  of  the  portico.  The  beft  modern  cary- 
atids are  in  the  old  Louvre  at  Paris,  done  by 
Goujon  ;  but  thofe  of  Villa  Albani  are  true 
antiques,  perfect  in  beauty,  ineftimable  in 
value. 

The  church  that  now  ftands  where  a  temple 
to  Bacchus  was  built,  fnori  ddle  mura^  engaged 
our  attention  this  morning.  Nothing  can  be 
fremer  than  the  old  decorations  in  honour  of 
this  jocund  deity ;  the  figures  of  men  and 
K  2  women 


132  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

women  carrying  grapes,  oxen  drawing  bar- 
rels, &c.  all  the  progrefs  of  a  gay*and  plen- 
teous vintage ;  a  facridce  at  the  end.  I  forget 
to  whom  the  church  is  now  dedicated,  but  /'/  is 
a  church  ;  and  from  under  it  has  been  dug 
up  a  farcophagus,  all  of  one  piece  of  red  por- 
phyry, which  reprefents  on  its  fides  a  Bac- 
chanalian triumph ;  the  coffin  is  nine  feet 
long,  and  the  Pope  intends  removing  it  to  the 
Vatican,  as  a  companion  to  that  of  Scipio 
<£milianus,  found  a  few  months  ago  ;  his  name 
engraven  on  it,  and  his  bones  iniide.  Before 
the  proper  precautions  could  be  taken  how- 
ever, they  were  flung  away  by  miftaken  zeal 
and  prejudice  ;  but  an  Engliihman,  fay  they, 
who  loves  an  unbeliever,  got  pofleflion  of  a 
tooth  :  meantime  the  afhes  of  the  emperor 
Adrian,  who,  as  Eufebius  tells  us,  fet  up  the 
figure  of  a  fwine  on  the  gates  of  Bethlehem, 
built  a  temple  in  honour  of  Venus,  on  Mount 
Calvary;  another  to  Jupiter,  upon  the  hill 
whence  our  Saviour  afcended  into  heaven  in 
fight  of  his  difciples  ; — bis  afhes  are  kept  in 
a  gilt  pine-apple,  brought  from  Caftle  St. 
Angelo,  and  preferved  among  other  rarities 
in  the  Pope's  mufceum.  So  poor  Scipio's  re- 
mains needed  not  to  have  been  treated  worfe 

than 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.       133 

than  Z>/V,  as  we  know  not  how  good  a  Chrif* 
tian  he  might  have  made,  had  he  lived  but 
150  years  later:  we  are  fure  that  he  was  a 
•wife  and  a  warlike  man  ;  that  he  fulfilled  the 
fcriptures  unwittingly  by  burning  Carthage; 
and  that  he  protected  Polybius,  whom  he 
would  fcarcely  fuffer  out  of  his  fight. 

After  looking  often  at  the  pictures  of  St. 
Sebaftian,  I  have  now  feen  his  church  founded 
by  Gonftantine  :  he  lies  here  in  white  marble, 
done  by  Bernini ;  and  here  are  more  mar- 
vellous columns. — I  am  tired  of  looking  out 
words  to  exprefs  their  various  merits. 

The  catacombs  attract  me  more  ftrongly; 
here,  and  here  alone,  can  one  obtain  a  jufl 
idea  of  the  melancholy  lives,  and  difmal 
deaths,  endured  by  thofe  who  firft  dared  at 
Rome  to  profefs  a  religion  inoffenlive  and 
beneficial  to  all  mankind.  San  Filippo  Neri 
has  his  body  fomewhat  diftinguimed  from  the 
reft  of  thefe  old  pious  Chriftians,  among 
whom  he  lived  to  a  furprifing  age,  making  a 
cave  his  refidence.  Relics  are  now  dug  up 
every  day  from  thefe  retreats,  and  venerated 
as  having  once  belonged  to  martyrs  murdered 
for  their  early  attachment  to  a  belief  now 
K-  3  happily 


i34  OBSERVATIONS  IN  A 
happily  difplayed  over  one  quarter  of  the 
world,  and  making  daily  progrefs  in  another 
not  difcovered  when  thofe  heroic  mortals  died 
to  atteft  its  truth.  There  is  however  great 
danger  of  deception  in  digging  out  the  relics, 
thefe  catacombs  having  been  in  Trajan's  time 
made  a  burial-place  for  flaves ;  and  fuch  it 
continued  to  be  during  the  reign  of  thofe 
Roman  emperors  who  defpifed  rather  than 
perfecuted  the  new  religion  in  its  infancy. 
The  confcioufnefs  of  this  fact  mould  cure  the 
paflion  many  here  fhew  for  relics,  the  authen- 
ticity of  which  can  never  be  afcertained. 
Thofe  £hewn  to  the  people  in  St.  Peter's 
church  one  evening  in  the  holy  week,  all 
came  from  here  it  feetns  ;  and  loudly  do  our 
Proteftant  travellers  exclaim  at  their  idolatry 
who  kneel  during  the  expofure  ;  though  for 
my  life  I  cannot  fee  how  the  cuftom  is  idola- 
trous. He  who  at  the  moment  a  dead  martyr's 
robe  is  fhewn  him,  begs  grace  of  God  to  fol- 
low that  great  example,  is  certainly  doing  no 
harm,  or  in  any  wife  contradicting  the  rules 
of  our  Anglican  church,  whofe  collects  for 
every  faint's  day  exprefs  a  like  fupplication 
for  power  to  imitate  that  faint's  good  example; 

if 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.        135 

if  once  they  worfhip  the  relics  indeed,  it 
were  better  they  were  burned  ;  and  to  fay 
true,  they  fhould  not  be  expofed  without  a 
fermon  explaining  their  ufe,  left  vulgar  minds 
might  be  unhappily  milled  to  miftake  the  real 
end  of  their  expofure,  and  profanely  fubftitute 
the  creature  for  the  Creator.  Meanwhile  no 
one  has  a  right  to  ridicule  the  love  of  what 
once  belonged  to  a  favourite  character,  who 
has  ever  felt  attachment  to  a  dead  friend's 
fnuff-box,  or  defire  of  pofTeffing  Scipio  jEmi- 
lianus's  tooth. 

But  the  beft  effort  to  excite  temporary  de- 
votion, and  commemorate  facred  feafons,  was 
the  illuminated  crofs  upon  Good  Friday  night, 
depending  from  the  high  dome  of  St.  Peter's 
church;  where  its  effect  upon  the  architecture 
is  ftrangely  powerful,  fo  large  are  the  mafles, 
both  of  light  and  made ;  whilft  the  fublime 
images  raifed  in  one's  mind  by  its  noble  fim- 
plicity  and  folitary  light,  hover  before  the 
fancy,  and  lead  recollection  round  through  a 
thoufand  gloomy  and  myfterious  paflages, 
with  no  unfteady  pace  however,  while  me  fol- 
lows the  rays  which  beam  from  the  Re- 
deemer's crofs.  Being  obliged  indeed  to  go 
K  4  with 


I36  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

with  company  to  thefe  folemnities,  takes  off 
from  their  effect,  and  turns  imagination  into 
another  channel,  difagreeably  enough,  but  it 
muft  be  fo  ;  where  there  is  a  thing  to  be  feen 
every  one  will  go  to  fee  it,  and  that  which  was 
intended  to  produce  fenfations  of  gladnefs, 
gratitude,  or  wonder,  ends  in  being  a  flow. 
The  confcioufnefs  of  this  fact  only  kept  me 
from  wifhing  to  fee  the  Duomo  di  Milano,  or 
the  cathedral  of  Canterbury  illuminated  juft 
fo,  with  lamps  placed  in  rows  upon  a  plain 
wooden  crofs  ;  which  furely  would  have,  up- 
on thofe  old  Gothic  ftructures,  an  unequalled 
effect  as  to  the  forming  of  light  and  fhadow. 

But  let  us  wifh  for  any  thing  now  rather 
than  a  fine  fight.  I  am  tired  with  the  very 
word  a  fight ;  while  the  Jefuits  church  here 
at  Rome,  with  the  figure  of  St.  Ignatius  all 
covered  with  precious  ftones,  with  bronze 
angels  by  Bernini,  and  every  decoration  that 
money  can  purchafe  and  induftry  collect,  ra- 
ther dazzles  than  delights  one,  I  think. 

The  Italians  feem  to  find  out,  I  know  not 
why,  that  it  is  a  good  thing  the  Jefuits  are  gone ; 
though  they  fteadily  endeavour  to  retain  thofe 
principles  of  defpotifm  which  it  was  their 

peculiar 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.       137 

peculiar  province  to  infpire  and  confirm,  and 
xvhilft  all  men  muft  fee  that  the  work  of  edu- 
cation goes  on  worfe  in  other  hands.  Indeed 
nothing  can  be  wilder  than  committing  youth 
to  the  tuition  of  monks  and  nuns,  unlefs,  like 
them,  they  were  intended  for  the  cloifter. 
Young  people  are  but  too  ready  to  find  fault 
with  their  teachers,  and  thefe  are  given  into 
the  hands  of  thofe  teachers  who  have  a  fault 
ready  found.  Every  chriftian,  every  moral 
inftrudion  driven  into  their  tender  minds 

9 

weakens  with  the  experience  that  he  or  fhe 
who  inculcated  it  was  a  reclufe ;  and  that  they 
who  are  to  live  in  the  world  forfooth,  muft 
have  more  enlarged  notions :  whereas,  to  a 
Jefuit  tutor,  no  fuch  objection  could  be  made ; 
they  were  themfelves  men  of  the  world,  their 
inftitution  not  only  permitted  but  obliged  them 
to  mingle  with  mankind,  to  ftudy  characters, 
to  attend  to  the  various  tranfactions  paffing 
round  them,  and  take  an  active  part.  It  was 
indeed  this  fpirit  pufhed  too  far,  which  undid 
and  deftroyed  their  order,  fo  ufeful  to  the 
church  of  Rome.  Connections  with  various 
nations  they  found  beft  obtained  by  commerce, 
and  the  fweets  of  commerce  once  tafted,  what 
body  of  men  has  been  yet  able  to  relinquifh  ? 
20  But 


138          OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

But  the  principles  of  trade  are  formed  in  direft 
oppofition  to  that  fpirit  of  fubordination  by 
which  alone  their  exigence  could  continue;  and 
it  is  unjuft  to  charge  any  fingle  event  or  perfon 
with  the  diflblution  of  a  body,  incompatible 
with  that  ftate  of  opennefs  and  freedom  to 
which  Europe  is  haftening.  Incorporated 
focieties  too  carry,  like  individuals,  the  feeds 
of  their  own  deftruction  in  their  bofoms  ; 

As  man  perhaps  the  moment  of  his  breath 
Receives  the  lurking  principle  of  death; 
The  young  difeafe,  which  muft  fubdue  at  length, 
Grows  with  his  growth,  and  ftrengthens  with  his 
ftrength. 

Every  warehoufe  opened  in  every  part  of 
Europe,  every  fettlement  obtained  abroad,  fa- 
cilitated their  undoing,  by  loofening  the  band 
\vhich  tied  them  clofe  together.  Extremes 
can  never  keep  their  diftance  from  each  other, 
while  human  affairs  trot  but  in  a  circle ;  and 
furely  no  ftronger  proof  of  that  pofition  can 
be  found,  than  the  fight  of  Quakers  in  Pen- 
fylvania,  and  Jefuits  in  Paraguay,  who  lived 
with  their  converted  Indian  neighbours,  alike 
in  harmony,  and  peace,  and  love. 

We 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.          J39 

We  have  been  led  to  refledioris  of  this  fort 
by  a  view  of  girls  portioned  here  at  Rome  once 
a  year,  fome  for  marriage  and  others  for  a 
nunnery ;  the  laft  fet  were  handfomeft  and 
feweft,  and  the  people  I  converfe  with  fay  that 
every  day  makes  almoft  vifible  diminution  in 
the  number  of  monks  and  nuns.  I  know  not, 
however,  whether  Italy  will  go  on  much  the 
better  for  having  fo  few  convents ;  fome 
ihould  furely  be  left,  nay  fome  muft  be  left  in 
a  country  where  it  is  not  poffible  for  every 
man  to  obtain  a  decent  livelihood  by  labour 
as  in  England  :  no  army,  no  navy,  very  little 
commerce  poffible  to  the  inland  ftates,  and 
very  little  need  of  it  in  any  ;  little  ftudy  of  the 
law  too,  where  the  prince  or  baron's  lips  pro- 
nounce on  the  decifion  of  property ;  what 
muft  people  do  where  fo  few  profeflions  are 
open  ?  Can  they  all  be  phyficians,  priefts,  or 
fhop-keepers,  where  little  phyfic  is  taken,  and 
few  goods  bought  ?  There  are  already  more 
clergy  than  can  live,  and  I  faw  an  abate  with 
the /*>///  collet  at  Lucca,  playing  in  the  orche£ 
tra  at  the  opera  for  eighteen  pence  pay.  Let  us 
be  all  contented  with  the  benefits  received  from 
heaven,  and  let  us  learn  better  than  to  fet  up 

i  whether  nation  or  individual,  as  a  ftand- 

ard[ 


I4o  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

ard  to  which  all  others  muft  be  reduced  ;  while 
imitation  is  at  laft  but  meannefs,  and  each 
may  in  his  own  fphere  ferve  God  and  love 
his  neighbours,  while  variety  renders  life  more 
pleafing.  Quodfis  effe  velis  *,  is  an  admirable 
maxim,  and  furely  no  felf-denial  is  neceflary  to 
its  practice  ;  while  God  has  kindly  given  to 
Italian^  a  bright  iky,  a  penetrating  intellect,  a 
genius  for  the  polite  and  liberal  arts,  and  a  foil 
which  produces  literally,  as  well  as  figura- 
tively, almoft  fpontaneous  fruits.  He  has  be- 
flowed  on  Englifhmen  a  mild  and  wholefome 
climate,  a  fpirit  of  application  and  improve- 
ment, a  judicious  manner  of  thinking  to 
increafe,  and  commerce  to  procure,  thofe  few 
comforts  their  own  ifland  fails  to  produce. 
The  mind  of  an  Italian  is  commonly  like 
his  country,  extenfive,  warm,  and  beautiful 
from  the  irregular  diverfification  of  its  ideas ; 
an  ardent  character,  a  glowing  landfcape. 
That  of  an  Engliflimari  is  cultivated,  rich,  and 
regularly  difpofed  ;  a  fteady  character,  a  de- 
licious landfcape. 

I  muft  not  quit  Rome  however  without  a 
word  of  Angelica  Kauffman,  who,  though 
neither  Englifh  nor  Italian,  has  contrived  to 

*  What  you  are  already,  that  defire  to  be  for  ever. 

charm 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.       141 

charm  both  nations,  and  {hew  her  fuperior 
talents  both  here  and  there.  Befide  her  paint- 
ings, of  which  the  world  has  been  the  judge, 
her  converfation  attracts  all  people  of  tafte  to 
her  houfe,  which  none  can  bear  to  leave  with- 
out difficulty  and  regret.  But  a  fight  of  the 
Santa  Croce  palace,  with  its  difgufting  yoby 
and  the  man  in  armour  fo  vifibly  horror- 
ftriken,  puts  all  painters  but  Salvator  Rofa  for 
a  while  out  of  one's  head.  This  matter's  works 
are  not  frequent,  though  he  painted  with  fa- 
cility. I  fuppofe  he  is  difficult  to  imitate  or 
copy,  fo  what  we  have  of  him  is  original, 
There  are  too  many  living  objects  here  in 
Job's  condition,  not  to  render  walking  in  the 
itreets  extremely  difagreeable ;  and  though  we 
are  told  there  are  feventeen  markets  in  Rome, 
lean  find  none,  the  forum  boarium  being  kept 
alike  in  all  parts  of  the  city  for  ought  I  lee ; 
butchers  ftanding  at  their  (hop  doors,  which 
are  not  fhut  nor  the  (hop  cleaned  even  on 
Sundays,  while  blood  is  fufFered  to  run  along 
the  kennels  in  a  manner  very  (hocking  to 
humanity.  Mr.  Greatheed  made  me  remark 
that  the  knife  they  ufe  now,  is  the  fame  em- 
ployed by  the  old  Romans  in  cutting  up  the 

facrifked 


I42          OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

facrificed  victim  ;  and  there  are  in  fact:  ancient 
figures  in  many  bas-reliefs  of  this  town,  which 
repreferit  the  inferior  officers,  or  popes ,  with  a 
prieft*s  albe  reaching  from  their  arms  and 
tucked  up  tight,  with  the  facrificing  knife  fatt- 
ened to  it,  exactly  as  the  modern  butcher 
wears  his  drefs.  The  apron  was  called  limus^ 
and  there  was  a  purple  welt  fewed  on  it  in 
fuch  a  manner  as  to  reprefent  a  ferpent  i 
Velati  limo,  et  verbena  terrtpora  vindi  *  j 

which  Servius  explains  at  length,  but  gives  no 
reafon  for  the  ferpentine  form,  by  fome  people 
exalted,  particularly  Mr.  Hogarth,  as  nearly 
allied  to  the  perfection  of  all  poffible  grace. 
This  looks  hypothetical,  but  when  the  map  of 
both  hemifpheres  difplayed  before  one,  fhews 
that  the  Sun's  path  forms  the  fame  line,  called 
by  pre-eminence  Ecliptic,  we  will  pardon  their 
predilection  in  its  favour. 

But  it  is  time  to  take  leave  of  this  Roma 
triumphant,  as  fhe  is  reprefented  in  one  ftatue 
with  a  weeping  province  at  her  foot,yo  beautiful ! 
it  reminded  me  of  Queen  Eleanor  and  fair 
Rofamond.  The  Viaggiana  fent  me  to  look 
for  many  things  I  fhould  not  have  found  with- 

*  Girt  with,  the  limus,  and  as  to  their  temples,  they 
were  crowned  with  vervain, 

15  out 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.       143 

out  that  inftruclive  guide,  particularly  the  fm- 
gular  infcription  on  Gaudentius  the  actor's 
tomb,  importing  that  Vefpafian  rewarded  him 
with  death,  but  that  Kriflus^  for  fo  Chrift  is 
fpelt,  will  reward  him  with  a  finer  theatre  in 
heaven.  He  was  one  of  our  early  martyrs 
it  appears,  and  an  altar  to  him  would  furely 
be  now  more  judicioufly  placed  at  a  play- 
houfe  door  than  one  to  good  St.  Anthony, 
under  whofe  protection  the  theatre  at  Naples 
is  built ;  with  no  great  propriety  it  mud 
be  confefled,  when  that  Saint,  difgufted  by 
the  levities  of  life,  retired  to  finifh  his  exift- 
ence,  far  from  the  haunts  of  man,  among  the 
horrors  of  an  unfrequented  defert.  So  has  it 
chanced  however,  that  by  many  feels  of 
Chriftians,  the  player  and  his  profeffion  have 
been  feverely  reprobated ;  Calvinifts  forbid 
them  their  walls  as  deftructive  to  morality, 
while  Romanifts,  confidering  them  asjuftly 
excommunicated,  refufe  them  the  common 
rites  of  fepulture.  Scripture  affords  no  ground 
for  fuch  feverity.  Dr.  Johnfon  once  told  me 
that  St.  Paul  quoted  in  his  epiftles  a  comedy 
of  Menander ;  and  I  got  the  librarian  at  Ve- 
nice to  (hew  me  the  paflage  marked  as  a  quo- 
tation in  one  of  the  old  editions  :  it  is  then 

a  fair 


144-  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

a  fair  inference  enough  that  the  apoftle  could 
never  have  prohibited  to  his  followers  the 
fight  of  plays,  when  he  cited  them  himfelf; 
they  were  indeed  more  innocent  than  any 
other  mow  of  the  days  he  lived  in,  and  if  well 
managed  may  be  always  made  fubfervient  to 
the  great  caufes  of  religion  and  virtue.  The 
pafiage  cited  was  this  : 

Evil  communication  corrupts  good  manners. 

And  now  with  regard  to  the  prefent  ftate 
of  morals  at  Rome,  one  muft  not  judge  from 
flaring  ftories  told  one  ;  it  is  like  Heliogaba- 
lus's  method  of  computing  the  number  of  his 
citizens  from  the  weight  of  their  cobwebs.  It 
is  wonderful  to  me  the  people  are  no  worfe, 
where  no  methods  are  taken  to  keep  them 
from  being  bad. 

As  to  the  fociety,  I  fpeak  not  from  myfelf, 
for  I  faw  nothing  of  it ;  fome  Englifh  liked 
it,  but  more  complained.  Wanting  amufe- 
ment,  however,  can  be  no  complaint,  even 
without  fociety,  in  a  city  ib  pregnant  with 
wonders,  fo  productive  of  reflections  ;  and  if 
the  Roman  nobles  are  haughty,  who  can  won- 
der ;  when  one  fees  door?  of  agate,  and  chim- 
ney- 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.       145 

ney-pieces  of  amethyft,  one  canfcarcelybe  fur- 
prifed  at  the  poiTefTors  pride,  fliould  they  in 
contempt  turn  their  backs  upon  a  foreigner, 
whom  they  are  early  taught  to  confider  as  the 
Turks  confider  women,  creatures  formed  for 
their  ufe  only,  or  at  beil  amufcment,  and  de- 
voted to  certain  deftruclion  at  the  hour  of 
death.  With  fuch  principles,  the  hatred  and 
fcorn  they  naturally  feel  for  a  proteftant  will 
eafily  fwell  into  fupercilioufnefs,  or  burft  out 
into  arrogance,  the  moment  it  is  unreftrained 
by  the  neceffity  of  forms  among  the  rich,  and 
the  defire  of  pillage  in  the  poor. 

But  I  fhall  be  glad  now  to  exchange  lapis 
lazuli  for  violets,  and  verd  antique  for  green 
fields.  Here  are  more,  amethyfts  about  Rome 
than  lilacs ;  and  the  laburnum  which  at  this 
gay  feafon  adorns  the  environs  of  London,  I 
look  for  in  vain  about  the  Porta  del  Popolo. 
The  proud  purple  tulip  which  decorates  the 
ground  hereabouts,  oppofed  to  the  Britifh 
harebell,  is  Italy  and  England  again  ;  but  the 
harebell  by  cultivation  becomes  a  hyacinth^  the 
tulip  remains  where  it  began.  We  are  now 
at  the  1 6th  of  April,  yet  I  know  not  how  or 
why  it  is,  although  the  oaks,  young,  fmall, 

VOL.  IL  L  and 


146  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

and  ftraggling  as  they  are,  have  the  leaves  come 
out  all  broad  and  full  already,  though  the  fig  is 
burfling  out  every  day  and  hour,  and  the  mul- 
berry tree,  fo  tardy  in  our  climate,  that  I  have 
often  been  unable  to  fee  fcarcely  a  bud  upon 
them  even  in  May,  is  here  completely  furnim- 
ed.  Apple  trees  are  yet  in  bloffom  round  this 
city,  arid  the  few  elms  that  can  be  found,  are 
but  juft  unfolding.  Common  fhrubs  continue 
their  wintry  appearance,  and  in  the  general 
look  of  fpring  little  is  gained.  The  hedges 
now  of  Kent  and  Surrey  are  rilled  with  fra- 
grance Tarn  fure,  and  primrofes  in  the  remoter 
provinces  torment  the  fportfmen  with  fpoiling 
the  drag  on  a  foft  fcenting  morning ;  while 
limes,  horfe-chefnuts,  &c.  contribute  to  pro- 
duce an  effect  not  fo  inferior  to  that  foflered 
by  Italian  funmine,  as  I  expected  to  find  it. 

Why  the  firft  breath  of  far-diftant  fummer 
fhould  thus  affect  the  oak  arid  fig,  yet  leave 
the  elm  and  apple  as  with  us,  the  botanifts 
muft  tell ;  few  advances  have  been  made  in 
vegetation  fince  we  left  Naples,  that  is  certain  ; 
the  hedges  were  as  forward  near  Pozzuoli  two 
full  months  ago.  And  here  are  no  China 
oranges  to  be  bought ;  no,  nor  a  cherry  or 
ftrawberry  to  be  feen,  while  every  man  of 

failiion's 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.       147 

fafhion's  table  in  London  is  covered  with 
them  ;  and  all  the  (hops  of  Covent-garden  and 
St.  JamesVftreet  hang  out  their  luxurious 
temptations  of  fruit,  to  prove  the  proximity  of 
fummerj  and  the  advantages  of  induftrious 
cultivation.  Our  eating  pleafed  me  mofe  at 
every  town  than  this ;  where  however  a  man 
might  live  very  well  I  believe  for  fixpence  a-day, 
and  lodge  for  twenty  pounds  a-year ;  and  who- 
ever has  no  attachment  to  religion,  friends,  or 
country,  no  prejudices  to  plague  his  neigh- 
bours with,  and  no  diilike  to  take  the  world 
as  it  goes,  for  fix  or  feven  years  of  his  life, 
may  fpend  them  profitably  at  Rome,  if  either 
his  bufmefs  or  his  pleafure  be  made  out  of  the 
works  of  art ;  as  an  income  of  two,  or  indeed 
one  hundred  pounds  per  annum^  will  purchafe 
a  man  more  refined  delights  of  that  kind  here, 
than  as  many  thoufands  in  England :  nor  need 
he  want  fociety  at  the  firft  houfes,  palaces  one 
ought  to  call  them,  as  Italians  meafure  no 
man's  merit  by  the  weight  of  his  purfe  ;  they 
know  how  to  reverence  even  poverty,  and 
foften  all  its  forrows  with  an  appearance  of 
refpect,  when  they  find  it  unfortunately  con- 
nected with  noble  birth.  His  own  country 
folk's  neglect,  as  they  pafs  through,  would  in- 
L  2  deed 


148  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

deed  be  likely  enough  to  difturb  his  felicity, 
and  lefTen  the  kindnefs  of  his  Roman  friends, 
who  having  no  idea  of  a  perfon's  being  mun- 
ned  for  any  other  pojfible  reafon  except  the 
want  of  a  pedigree,  would  conclude  that  his 
muft  be  effentially  deficient,  and  lament 
their  having  laid  out  fo  many  carefles  on  an 
impoftor. 

The  air  of  this  city  is  unwholefome  to  fo- 
reigners, but  if  they  pafs  the  firft  year,  the 
remainder  goes  well  enough  ;  many  Englifh 
feem  very  healthy,  who  are  eftabliihed  here 
without  even  the  fmalleft  intention  of  return- 
ing home  to  Great  Britain,  for  which  place  we 
are  fetting  out  to-morrow,  igth  April  1786,  and 
quit  a  town  that  ftill  retains  fo  many  juft  pre- 
tences to  be  ftyledthe  firft  among  the  cities  of  the 
earth;  to  which  almoftasmany  ftrangersare  now 
attracted  by  curiofity,  as  were  dragged  thither 
by  violence  in  the  firft  ftage  of  its  dominion, 
impelled  by  fuperftitious  zeal  in  the  fecond. 
The  rage  for  antiquities  now  feems  to  have 
fpread  its  contagion  of  connoifieurfhip  over 
all  thofe  people  whofe  predeceflbrs  tore  down, 
levelled,  and  deftoyed,  or  buried  under  ground 
their  ftatues,  pictures,  every  work  of  art; 

Poles, 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        149 

Poles,  Ruffians,  Swedes,  and  Germans  innu- 
merable, flock  daily  hither  in  this  age,  to  ad- 
mire with  rapture  the  remains  of  thofe  very 
fahrics  which  their  own  barbarous  anceftors 
pulled  down  ten  centuries  ago ;  and  give  for 
the  head  of  SL.Livla,  a  Probus,  or  Gattienus^ 
what  emperors  and  queens  could  not  then  life 
with  any  efficacy,  for  the  prefervation  of  their 
own  perfons,  now  grown  facred  by  ruft,  and 
valuable  from  their  difficulty  to  be  decyphered. 
The  Englifh  were  wont  to  be  the  only  travel- 
lers of  Europe,  the  only  dupes  too  in  this  way; 
but  defire  of  diftinction  is  diffufed  among 
all  the  northern  nations,  and  our  Romans 
here  have  it  more  in  their  power,  with 
that  prudence  to  aflift  them  which  it  is  faid 
they  do  not  want,  if  not  to  conquer  their  neigh- 
bours once  again,  at  leaft  to  ruin  them,  by 
dint  of  digging  up  their  dead  heroes,  and  call- 
ing in  the  affiftance  of  their  old  Pagan  deities, 
now  ufeful  to  them  in  a  new  manner,  and  ever 
propitious  to  this  city,  although 

Enlighten'd  Europe  with  difdain 

Beholds  the  reverenc'd  heathen  train, 

Nor  names  them  more  in  this  her  clearer  day, 

Unlefs  with  fabled  force  to  aid  the  poet's  lay. 

R.  MERRY. 

I  3 


I5o  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 


FROM   ROME    TO   ANCONA. 


IN  our  road  hither  we  paffed  through  what 
remains  of  Veia,  once  fo  efteemed  and  liked 
by  the  Romans,  that  they  had  a  good  mind, 
after  they  had  driven  Brennus  back,  to  change 
the  feat  of  empire  and  remove  it  there  ;  but  a 
belief  in  augury  prevented  it,  and  that  event 
was  put  off  till  Conftantine,  feduced  by  beauties 
of  fituation,  made  the  fatal  change,  and  broke 
the  laft  thread  which  had  fo  long  bound  tight 
together  the  faices  of  Roman  fway.  We  did 
not  tafte  the  Vinum  Velentanum  mentioned 
by  Martial  and  Horace,  but  trptted  on  to  Ci- 
vita  Caftellana,  where  Camillus  rejected  the 
bafe  offer  of  the  fchoolmafter  of  Fefcennium  ; 
a  good  picture  of  his  well-judged  punilhment 
is  ftill  preferved  in  the  Capitol. 

The  firfl  night  of  our  journey  was  fpent  at 
Otricoli,  where  I  heard  the  cuckoo  fmg  in  a 
ihriller  fharper  note  than  he  does  in  England. 
I  had  never  liftened  to  him  before  fmce  I  left 
my  own  country,  and  his  fong  alone  would 

have 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        151 

have  convinced  me  I  was  no  longer  in  it. 
Porta  di  Fuga  at  Spoleta  gates,  commemorating 
poor  Hannibal's  precipitate  retreat  after  the 
battle  of  Thrafymene,  may  perhaps  detain  us 
a  while  upon  this  Flaminian  way  ;  it  was  not 
Titus  Flaminius  though,  whofe  negotiations 
ruined  Hannibal  for  ever,  that  gave  name  to  the 
road,  but  Caius  of  the  fame  family  ;  they  had 
been  Flamens  formerly,  and  were  therefore 
called  Flaminius,  when  drawn  up  by  accident 
or  merit  into  notice  ;  the  fame  cuftom  ftill 
obtains  with  us :  we  have  Dr.  Priejlky  and  Mr. 
Parfons. 

Narni  Bridge  coft  us  fome  trouble  in  clam- 
bering, and  more  in  difputirig  whether  it  was 
originally  an  aqueduct  or  a  bridge — or  both. 
It  is  a  magnificent  ftructure,  irregularly  built, 
the  arches  of  majeftic  height,  but  all  unequal. 
There  was  water  enough  under  it  when  I  was 
there  to  take  off  the  impropriety  apparent  to 
many  of  turning  fo  large  an  arch  over  fo  fmall 
a  ftream.  Yet  notwithstanding  that  the  river 
was  much  fwelled  by  long  continuance  of 
the  violent  rains  which  lately  fo  overflowed  the 
city  of  Rome,  aflifted  by  the  Tyber,  that  peo- 
ple went  about  the  ftreets  in  boats,  notwith- 
L  4  {landing 


,52  OBSERVATIONS    IN  'A 

{landing  the  fnows  tumbled  down  from  the 
furrour.ding  mountains,  muft  have  much  in- 
creafed  the  quantity,  and  lowered  the  colour 
of  the  river  : — We  found  it  even  now  yellow 
•with  brimftone,  and  well  deferving  the  epithet 
of fulf>hureous  Nar. 

The  next  day's  drive  carried  us  forward  to 
Terni,  where  a  fevere  concuffion  of  the  earth 
fufFered  only  three  nights  fmce,  kept  all  the 
little  town  in  terrible  alarm  ;  the  houfes  were 
deferted,  the  churches  crowded,  ^applications 
and  proceffions  in  every  ftreet,  and  people 
finging  all  night  to  the  Virgin  under  our  win-* 
clow. 

Well !  the  next  morning  we  hired  horfes 
for  our  gentlemen  ;  a  little  cart,  not  inconve- 
nient at  all,  for  my  maid  and  me ;  and 
fcrambled  over  many  rocks  to  view  the  far- 
famed  waterfall,  through  afweet  country,  pleaf- 
ingly  interfered  with  hedges  and  planted 
with  vines  ;  the  ground  finely  undulated, 
and  rifing  by  gradations  of  hill  till  the  eye 
lofes  itfelf  among  the  lofty  Appenines  ;  fur- 
ly  as  they  feem,  and  one  would  think  imper- 
vious ;  but  againft  human  art  and  human 
ambition,  the  boundary  of  rocks  and  roaring 
fsas  lift  their  prcud  lieads  iu  vain.  Man  renders 

them 


JOURNEY    THROUGH  ITALY.        155 

them  fubfervient  to  his  imperial  will,  and 
forces  them  to  facilitate,  not  impede  his  do- 
minion ;  while  ocean's  felf  fupports  his  {hips, 
and  the  mountain  yields  marble  to  decorate 
his  palace. 

This  is  however  no  moment  and  no  place  to 
begin  a  panegyric  upon  the  power  of  man, 
and  of  his  {kill  to  fubjugate  the  works  of  na- 
ture, where  the  people  are  trembling  at  its 
paft,  and  dreading  its  future  effects. 

The  cafcade  we   came  to  fee  is  formed  by 
the  fall  of  a  whole  river,  which  here  abruptly 
drops  into  the  Nar,  from  a  height  fo  prodigi- 
ous, and  by  a  courfe  fo  unbroken,  that  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  communicate,  fo  as  to  receive  the  idea : 
for  no  eye  can  meafure  the  depth  of  the  preci- 
pice, fuch  is  the  toiling  up  of  foam    from  its 
bottom  j  and  the  terrible  noife  heard  long  be- 
fore one  arrives  fo  {tunned  and  confounded 
all   my   wits   at    once,    that   many   minutes 
pafled  before  I  obferved  the  horror  in  our  con- 
ductors, who  coming  with  us,  then  firft  per- 
ceived how  the    late  earthquake  had  twifted 
the  torrent  out    of  its  proper   channel,  and 
thrown  it   down  another  neighbouring  rock, 
leaving  the  original  bed  black  and  deferted, 
as  a  difmal  proof  of  the  ccncuffion's  force. 

One 


T54-  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

One  of  our  Englifh  friends  who  had  vifited 
Schaffhaufen,  made  no  difficulty  to  prefer 
this  wonderful  cafcade  to  the  fall  of  the  Rhine 
at  that  place  ;  and  what  with  the  fiflures  made 
in  the  ground  by  recent  earthquakes,  the  fight 
of  propt-up  cottages  which  fright  the  fancy 
more  than  thofe  a!".,  y  fallen,  and  the  roar 
of  darning  waters  driven  from  their  deftined 
currents  by  what  the  people  here  emphatically 
term  palpitations  of  the  earth  ;  one  feels  a 
thoufand  fenfations  of  fublimity  unexcited  by 
lefs  accidents,  and  foon  obliterated  by  real 
danger. 

Why  the  inhabitants  will  have  this  tum- 
bling river  be  Topino,  I  know  not ;  but  no 
fuggeftions  of  mine  could  make  them  name  it 
Velino,  as  our  travellers  uniformly  call  it : 
for,  fay  they,  quello  c  il  nome  delforgente  *;  and 
in  fad:  Virgil's  line, 

Sulfurea  Nar,  albus  acqua  fontefque  Velini, 
fays  no  more. 

The  mountains  after  Terni  grow  fteep  and 
difficult ;  no  one  who  wifhes  to  fee  the  Ap- 
penines  in  perfection  muft  mifs  this  road,  yet 
are  they  not  comparable  to  the  Alps  at  beft, 
which  being  more  lofty,  more  craggy,  and 

*  That's  the  n?me  of  the  fpring. 

aim  oft 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        155 

almoft  univerfally  terminating  in  points  of 
granite  devoid  of  horizontal  ftrata,  give  one 
a  more  majeftic  idea  of  their  original  and  du- 
ration. Spoleto  is  on  the  top  of  one  of  them, 
and  Porta  della  Fuga  meets  one  at  its  gates. 
Here  as  our  coach  broke  (and  who  can  won- 
der ?)  we  have  time  to  talk  over  old  ftories,  and 
look  for  Jlreams  immortallzd  infong  :  for  being 
tied  together  only  with  ropes,  we  cannot  hurry- 
through  a  country  mod  delightful  of  all  others 
to  be  detained  in. 

The  little  temple  to  the  river  god  Clitumnus 
afforded  matter  of  difcuffion  amongft  our  party, 
whether  this  was,  or  was  not  the  very  one 
mentioned  by  Pliny  :  Adjacet  templum  prifcum 
et  rdigiofum.  Stat  Clitumnus  ipfe  amiSlus  or- 
natufque  *. 

Mr.  Greatheed  was  angry  with  me  for  ad- 
miring fpiral  columns,  as  he  faid  pillars  were 
always  meant  to  fupport  fomething,  and  fpiraj 
lines  betrayed  weaknefs.  Mr.  Chappelow 
quoted  every  clailic  author  that  had  ever  men- 
tioned the  white  cattle  ;  and  I  faid  that  fo  far 
as  they  were  whiter  than  other  beafts  of  the 
fame  kind,  fo  far  were  they  worfe  ;  for  that 

*  There  was  an  old  religious  temple  hard  by,  where 
Clitumnus  himfelf  was  venerated  with  fuitable  drefs  and 
ornaments, 

whitenefs 


j56  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

whitenefs  in  the  works  of  nature  (hewed  fee- 
blenefs  ftill  more  than  fpirals  in  the  works  of 
art  perhaps.  So  chatting  on — but  on  no  Fla- 
minian  way,  we  arrived  at  Foligno  ;  where 
the  people  told  us  that  it  was  the  quality  of 
thofe  waters  to  turn  the  clothing  of  many 
animals  white,  and  accordingly  all  the  fowls 
looked  like  thofe  of  Larking.  I  had  however 
notafte  of  their  beauty,  recolle&ing  that  when 
I  kept  poultry,  fome  accident  poifoned  me 
a  very  beautiful  black  hen,  the  breed  of  Lord 
Mansfield  at  Caen  Wood  :  (he  recovered  her 
illnefs;  but  at  the  next  moulting  feafon,  her 
feathers  came  as  white  as  the  fwans.  "  Let 
us  look,"  fays  Mr.  Sh ,  "  if  all  the  wo- 
men here  have  got  grey  hair. 

Tolentino  arid  Macerata  we  will  not  fpeak 
about,  while  Loretto courts  defcription,  and  the 
richeft  treafures  of  Europe  ftand  in  the  moft 
delicious  diftrid:  of  it.  The  number  of  beg- 
gars offended  me,  becaufe  I  hold  it  next  to  im~ 
poflibiiity  that  they  fhould  want  in  a  country  fo 
luxuriantly  abundant ;  and  their  proftrations 
as  they  kneel  and  kifs  the  ground  before  you, 
are  more  calculated  to  produce  difguft  from 
Britiih  travellers,  than  companion.  Nor  can, 

I  think 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.        ,57' 

I  think  thefe  vagabonds  diftrefled  in  earneft  at 
this  time  above  all  others; 'when  their  fove- 
reign  provides  them  with  employment  on  the 
beautiful  new  road  he  is  making,  and  infifts 
on  their  being  well  paid,  who  are  found 
willing  to  work.  But  the  town  itfelf  of  Lo- 
retto  claims  my  attention;  fo  clear  are  its 
ftreets,  fo  numerous  and  cheerful  and  induf- 
trious  are  its  inhabitants  :  one  would  think 
they  had  refolved  to  job  paflengers  of  the  trite 
remark  which  the  fight  of  dead  wealth  always 
infpires,  that  the  money  might  be  better  be/lowed 
upon  the  livitig  poor.  For  here  are  very  few 
poor  families,  and  fewer  idlers  than  one  ex- 
pects to  fee  in  a  place  where  not  bufmefs  but 
devotion  is  the  leading  characteriftic.  So 
quiet  too  and  inoffenfive  are  the  folks  here, 
that  fcarcely  any  robberies  or  murders,  or  any 
but  very  petty  infringements  of  the  law,  are 
ever  committed  among  them.  Yet  people 
grieve  to  fee  that  wealth  collected,  which  once 
diffufed  would  certainly  make  many  happy ; 
and  thofe  treafures  lying  dead,  which  well  dif- 
perfed  might  keep  thoufands  alive.  This  ob- 
fervation,  not  always  made  perhaps  by  thofe 
who  feel  it  moft,  or  that  would  fooneft  give 

their 


i58  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

their  {hare  of  it  away,  if  once  poflefied,  is  nowy 
from  being  fo  often  repeated,  become  neither 
bright  nor  new.  We  will  not  however  be  pe- 
tulantly hafty  to  cenfure  thofe  who  firft  began 
the  lamentation,  remembering  that  our  blefled 
Saviour's  earlieft  difciples,  and  thofe  moft  im- 
mediately about  him  too,  could  not  forbear 
grudging  to  fee  precious  ointment  poured  up- 
on his  feet,  whom  they  themfelves  confeffed  to 
be  the  Son  of  God.  We  mould  likewife  recoi- 
led his  mild  but  grave  reproof  of  thofe  men 
who  gave  fo  decided  a  preference  to  the  poor 
over  his  facred  perfon,  fo  foon  to  be  facrirlced 
for  them,  and  his  teftimony  to  the  wo- 
man's earnefl  love  and  zeal  expreffed  by  giv- 
ing him  the  fineft  thing  (he  had.  Such  ac- 
ceptance as  (he  met  with,  I  fuppofe  prompted 
the  hopes  of  many  who  have  been  diiKnguim- 
ed  by  their  rich  prefents  to  Loretto  ;  and  let 
not  thofe  at  leaft  mock  or  moleft  them,  who 
have  been  doing  nothing  better  with  their 
money.  Upon  examination  of  the  jewels  it 
is  curious  to  obferve  that  the  intrinfic  value 
of  the  prefents  is  manifeftly  greater,  the  more 
ancient  they  are  ;  but  tafte  fucceeds  to  folidity 
in  every  thing,  and  proofs  of  that  pofition  may 

be 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         159 

be  found  every  ftep  one  treads.  The  veftments, 
all  embroidered  over  with  picked  pearl,  are 
quite  beyond  my  powers  of  eilimation. 
The  gold  baby  given  at  the  birth  of  Louis  Qua- 
torze,  of  fize  and  weight  equal  to  the  real  in- 
fant, has  had  its  value  often  computed  ;  I  for- 
get the  fum  though.  A  rock  of  emeralds  in 
their  native  bed  prefented  by  the  Queen  of 
Portugal,  though  of  Occidental  growth,  is 
furely  ineftimable  ;  and  our  fanguinary  Ma- 
ry's heart  of  rubies  is  highly  efteemed.  I  afk- 
ed  if  Charles  the  Ninth  of  France  had  fent 
any  thing  ;  for  I  thought  their  prefents  fhould 
have  been  placed  together  :  far,  far  even  from 
the  wooden  image  of  her  who  was  a  model 
of  meeknefs,  and  carried  in  her  fpotlefs  bofom 
the  Prince  of  Peace.  Many  very  exquifite 
pieces  of  art  too  have  found  their  way  into 
the  Virgin's  cabinet ;  the  pearl  however  is  the 
finking  rarity,  as  it  exhibits  in  the  manner 
of  a  blot  on  marble,  the  figure  of  our  blefled 
Saviour  fitting  on  a  cloud  clafped  in  his  mo- 
ther's arms.  Princefs  Borghefe  fent  an  ele- 
gantly-fet  diamond  necklace  no  longer  ago 
than  laft  Chriftmas-day  ;  it  is  valued  at  a 
thoufand  pounds  iterling  Engliih  :  but  the 
9  riches 


160  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

riches  of  that  family  appear  to  me  inexhauft- 
ible.  Whoever  fees  it  will  fay,  (he  might  have 
fpent  the  money  better ;  but  let  them  reflect 
that  one  may  fay  that  of  all  expence  almoft; 
and  it  is  not  from  the  ftate  of  Loretto  thefe 
treafures  are  taken  at  laft  :  they  bring  money 
there  ;  and  if  any  perfon  has  a  right  to  com- 
plain, it  muft  be  the  fubje£ts  of  diftant 
princes,  who  yet  would  fcarcely  have  divided 
among  them  the  fapphires,  &c.  they  have  fent 
in  prefents  to  Loretto. 

It  was  curious  to  fee  the  devotees  drag  them- 
felves  round  the  holy  houfe  upon  their  knees  ; 
but  the  Santa  Scala  at.  Rome  had  (hewn  me 
the  fame  operation  performed  with  more  dif- 
ficulty ;  and  a  written  injunction  at  bottom, 
lefs  agreeable  for  Italians  to  comply  with,  than 
any  poffible  prbftration  ;  viz.  That  no  one 
fhould  fpit  as  he  went  up  or  down,  except  in 
his  pocket-handkerchief.  The  lamps  which 
burn  night  and  day  before  the  black  image 
here  at  Loretto  are  of  folid  gold,  and  there 
is  fuch  a  crowd  of  them  I  fcarcely  could  fee  the 
figure  for  my  own  part ;  and  that  one  may 
fee  ftill  "lefs,  the  attendant  canons  throw  a 
veil  over  one's  face  going  in. 

The 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.      i6t 

The  confeflionals,  where  all  may  be  heard 
in  their  own  language,  is  not  peculiar  to  this 
church;  I  met  with  it  fomewhere  elfe,  but 
have  forgotten  where,  though  I  much  efteem- 
ed  the  eftablifliment.  It  is  very  entertaining 
here  too,  to  fee  infcriptions  in  twelve  different 
tongues,  giving  an  account  of  the  miraculous 
removal  and  arrival  here  of  the  Santa  Co/a : 
I  was  delighted  with  the  Welch  one;  and  our 
conductor  faid  there  came  not  unfrequently 
pilgrims  from  the  vale  of  Llwydd,  who  in 
their  turns  told  the  wonders  of  their  holy  well. 
In  Latin  then>  and  Greek,  and  Hebrew, 
Syriac,  Phoenician,  Arabic,  French,  Spanifh, 
German,  Welch,  and  Tufcan,  may  you  read 
a  flory,  once  believed  of  equal  credit,  and 
more  revered  I  fqar,  than  even  the  facred 
\vords  of  God  fpeaking  by  the  fcriptures  ; 
but  which  is  now  certainly  upon  the  wane. 
I  told  a  learned  ecclefiaftic  at  Rome,  that  we 
fhould  return  home  by  the  way  of  Loretto  : — 
"  There  is  no  need,"  faid  he,  "  to  caution  a 
native  of  your  ifland  againft  credulity  ;  but 
pray  do  not  believe  that  we  are  ourfelves 
fatisfied  with  the  tale  you  will  read  there  ;  no 
man  of  learning  but  knows,  that  Adrian  de- 

Voi~IL  M  "  ftroyed 


i62  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

ftroyed  every  trace  and  veflige  of  Chriftianity 
that  he  could  find  in  the  Eaft  ;  and  he  was 
acute,  and  diligent,  and  powerful.  The  em- 
prefs  Helena  long  after  him,  with  piety  that 
equalled  even  his  profanenefs,  could  never 
hear  of  this  holy  houfe  ;  how  then  fhould  it 
have  waited  till  fo  many  long  years  after  Jefus 
Chrift  ?  Truth  is,  Pope  Boniface  the  VHIth, 
who  canonized  St.  Louis,  who  inftituted  the 
jubilee,  xvho  quarrelled  with  Philippe  le  Bel 
about  a  new  crufade,  and  who  at  laft  fretted 
himfelf  to  death,  though  he  had  conquered 
all  his  enemies,  becaufe  he  feared  fome  lofs 
of  power  to  the  church  ; — defired  to  give  , 
mankind  a  new  object  of  attention,  and  en- 
couraged an  old  vifionary,  in  the  year  1296, 
to  propagate  the  tale  he  half-believed  himfelf; 
how  the  blefled  Virgin  had  appeared  to  him, 
and  related  the  ftory  you  will  read  upon  the 
walls,  which  was  then  firft  committed  to 
paper.  In  confequence  of  this  intelligence, 
Boniface  fent  men  into  the  Eaft  that  he  could 
beft  depend  upon,  and  they  brought  back 
juft  inch  particulars  as  would  beft  pleafe  the 
Pope  ;  and  in  thofe  days  you  can  fcarce  think 
-  how  quick  the  blaze  of  fuperftition  caught  and 
22  commu- 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.        163 

communicated  itfelf :  no  one  wimed  to  deny 
what  his  neighbour  was  willing  to  believe, 
and  what  he  himfelf  would  then  have  gained 
no  credit  by  contradicting.  Pofitive  evidence 
of  what  the  houfe  really  was,  or  whence  it  came, 
it  was  in  a  few  years  impoffible  to  obtain; 
nor  did  Boniface  the  VIILth  know  it  hiinfelf 
I  fuppofe,  much  lefs  the  old  vifionary  who 
firft  fet  the  matter  a-going.  Meantime  the 
houfe  itfelf  has  no  foundation,  whatever  the 
flory  may  have ;  it  is  a  very  fmgular  houfe  as 
you  may  fee  ;  it  has  been  venerated  by  the 
beft  and  wifeft  among  Chriftians  now  for  five 
hundred  years  :  even  the  Turks  (who  have 
the  fame  method  of  honouring  their  Prophet 
with  gifts,  as  we  do  the  Virgin  Mary)  refpect 
the  very  name  of  Loretto: — why  then  mould 
the  place  be  to  any  order  of  thinking  beings  a 
juft  object  of  infult  or  mockery?" — Here 
he  ended  his  difcourfe,  the  recollection  of 
which  never  left  me  whilft  we  remained  at 
the  place. 

What  Dr.  Moore  fays  of  the  finging  chap- 
lains \vithfoprano  voices,  who  fay  mafs  at  the 
altars  of  Loretto,  is  true  enough,  and  may 
perhaps  have  been  originally  borrowed  from 
the  Pagan  celebration  of  the  rites  of  Cybele. 
M  2  When 


164  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

When  Chriftianity  was  young,  and  weak,  and 
tender,  and  unfupported  by  erudition,  dread- 
ful miftakes  and  errors  eafily  crept  in:  the  hea- 
then converts  hearing  much  of  Mater  Dei ,  con- 
founded her  idea  with  that  of  their  Mater  Deo- 
rum;  and  we  were  fhewn,  among  the  rari- 
ties of  Rome,  a  bronze  Madonna,  with  a  tower 
on  her  head,  exa&ly  as  Cybele  is  reprefented. 

Thut  the  jewels  are  taken  out  of  this  trea- 
fury  and  replaced  with  falfe  ftones,  is  a  fpeech 
always  faid  over  fine  things  by  the  vulgar : 
I  have  heard  the  fame  thing  affirmed  of  the 
diamonds  at  St.  Denis  ;  and  can  recollect  the 
common  people  faying,  when  our  King  of 
England  was  crowned,  that  all  the  real  pre- 
cious ftones  were  locked  up,  or  fold  for  ftate 
expences  ;  while  the  jewels  fhewn  to  them 
were  only  calculated  to  dazzle  for  the  day. 
As  there  is  always  infinite  falfehood  in  the 
world,  fo  there  is  always  wonderful  care, 
however  ill  applied,  to  avoid  being  duped ; 
a  terror  which  hangs  heavily  over  weak  minds 
in  particular,  and  frights  them  as  far  from 
truth  on  the  one  fide,  as  credulity  tempts 
them  away  from  it  on  the  other. 

But 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        165 

But  we  muft  vifit  the  apothecary's  pots, 
painted  by  Raphael,  and  leave  Loretto,  to  pro- 
ceed along  the  fide  of  this  lovely  fea,  hearing  the 
pilgrims  fing  mod  fweetly  as  they  go  along  in 
troops  towards  the  town,  with  now  and  then  a 
female  voice  peculiarly  diftinguifhed  from  the 
reft:  by  this  means  a  new  image  is  prefented  to 
one's  mind  ;  the  fight  of  fuch  figures  too  half 
alarm  the  fancy,  and  give  an  air  of  diftance 
from  England,  which  nothing  has  hitherto 
infpired  half  fo  ftrongly.  This  charming 
Adriatic  gulph  befide,  though  more  than  de- 
licious to  drive  by,  does  not,  like  the  Medi- 
terranean, convey  homeifh  or  familiar  ideas ; 
one  feels  that  it  belongs  exclufively  to  Venice; 
one  knows  that  ancient  Greece  is  on  the 
oppofite  more,  and  that  with  a  quick  fail  one 
fhould  foon  fee  Macedonia ;  and  defcending 
but  a  little  to  the  fouthward,  vifit  Athens, 
Corinth,  Sparta,  Thebes— feats  of  philofophy, 
freedom,  virtue;  whence  models  of  excellence 
and  patterns  of  perfection  have  been  drawn 
for  twenty  fucceeding  centuries  ! 

Here  are  plenty  of  nightingales,   but  they 

do  not  fmg  as  well  as  in  Hertfordflure :  birds 

gain  in  colour  as  you  approach  the  tropic,  but 

M  3  they 


x66  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

they  lofe  in  fong ;  under  the  torrid  zone  I 
have  heard  they  never  fmg  at  all ;  with  us  in 
England  the  lateft  leave  off  by  midfummer, 
when  the  work  of  incubation  goes  forward, 
and  the  parental  duties  begin :  the  nightingale 
too  chufes  the  cooleft  hour;  and  though  I 
have  yet  heard  her  in  Italy  only  early  in  the 
mornings,  Virgil  knew  {he  fung  in  the  night : 

Flet  noftem,  &c.  * 

To  hear  birds  it  is  however  indifpenfably 
neceflary  that  there  fhould  be  high  trees ;  and 
except  in  thefe  parts  of  Italy,  and  thofe  about 
Genoa  and  Sienna,  no  timber  of  any  good 
growth  can  I  find.  The  roccolo  too,  and  other 
methods  taken  to  catch  fmall  birds,  which 
many  delight  in  eating,  and  more  in  taking, 
leflen  the  quantity  of  natural  mufic  vex- 
atioufly  enough ;  while  gaudy  infects  ill  fup- 
ply  their  place,  and  fharpen  their-  flings  at 
pleafure  when  deprived  of  their  greateft  ene- 
mies. We  are  here  lefs  tormented  than  ufual 
however,  while  the  profpeds  are  varied  fo 
that  every  look  produces  a  new  and  beautiful 
landfcape. 

*  Nightly  lamenting,  &c. 

Ancona 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.  167 
Ancona  is  a  town  perfectly  agreeable  to 
ftrangers,  from  the  good  humour  with  which 
every  nation  is  received,  and  every  religion 
patiently  endured:  fomething  of  all  this  the 
fcholars  fay  may  be  found  in  the  derivation  of 
its  name,  which  being  Greek  I  have  nothing 
to  do  with.  Pliny  tells  us  its  original,  ancj 
fays  ; 

A  Siculis  condita  eft  colonia  Ancona*, 

That  Dalmatia  mould  be  oppofite,  yet  to 
us  at  prefent  inaccefilble,  we  all  regret  ;  I 
drank  fea  water  however,  fo  did  not  leave 
untafted  the  waves  which  Lucan  {peaks  of: 

Illic  Dalmaticis  obnoxia  fludtibus  Ancon  f. 

The  fine  turbots  did  not  any  of  them  fall  to 
our  mare;  but  here  are  good  fim,  and,  to  fay 
true,  every  thing  eatable  as  much  in  per- 
fection as  poffible :  I  could  never  fince  I  ar- 
rived at  Turin  find  real  caufe  of  complaint— 
ferious  complaint  I  mean — except  at  that  fa- 
vage-looking  place  called  Radicofani ;  and 
fome  other  petty  town  in  Tufcany,  near 

*  The  colony  of  Ancona,  founded  by  Sicilians, 
t  The  beauteous  gulph  which  fair  Ancona  laves, 
wfh'd  by  white  Dalmatian  waves. 

M  4  Sienna, 


168  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Sienna,    where   I   eat    too   many   eggs    and 
grapes,  becaufe  there  was  nothing  elfe. 

Nice  accommodations  muft  not  be  looked 
for,  and  need  not  be  regretted,  where  fo  much 
amufement  during  the  day  gives  one  good 
difpofition  to  fleep  found  at  night :  the  worft 
is,  men  and  women,  fervants  and  matters, 
muft  often  mefs  together  ;  but  if  one  frets 
about  fuch  things,  it  is  better  ftay  at  home. 
The  Italians  like  travelling  in  England  no 
better  than  the  Englifh  do  travelling  in  Italy ; 
whilft  an  exorbitant  expence  is  incurred  by 
the  journey,  not  well  repaid  to  them  by  the 
waiters  white  chitterlins,  tambour  waiftcoats, 
and  independent  *'  JVb,  Sir,"  echoed  round  a 
well-furnifhed  inn  or  tavern  ;  which  puts 
them  but  in  the  place  of  Socrates  at  the  fair, 
who  cried  out-—"  How  many  things  have  thefe 
people  gathered  together  that  I  do  not  ivant!"-— 
A  noble  Florentine  complained  exceedingly  to 
me  once  of  the  Englifh  hotels,  where  he 
was  made  to  help  pay  for  thofe  good  gold 
watches  the  fellows  who  attended  him  drew 
from  their  pockets  j  fo  he  fet  up  his  quarters 
comically  enough  at  the  waggoners  full  Moon 
upon  the  old  bridge  at  Bath,  to  be  quit  of  the 
fcbiavitu,  as  he  called  it,  of  living  like  a  gen- 
tleman. 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        169 

tleman,  "  where,"  fays  he,  "  I  am  not  known 
to  be  one."  The  truth  is,  a  continental  no- 
bleman can  have  little  heart  of  a  country, 
where,  to  be  treated  as  a  man  of  fafhion,  he 
muft  abfolutely  behave  as  fuch :  his  rank  is 
afcertained  at  home^  and  people's  deportment 
to  him  regulated  by  long-eftablifhed  cuftoms ; 
nor  can  it  be  fuppofed  flattering  to  its  pre- 
judices, to  feel  himfelf  joftled  in  the  ftreet,  or 
driven  againft  upon  the  road  by  a  rich  trader, 
while  he  is  contriving  the  cheapeft  method  of 
going  to  look  over  his  manufactory.  Wealth 
diffufed  makes  all  men  comfortable,  and  leaves 
no  man  fplendid ;  gives  every  body  two 
dimes,  but  nobody  two  hundred.  Objects  of 
{how  are  therefore  unfrequent  in  England, 
and  a  foreigner  who  travels  through  our 
country  in  fearch  of  pofitive  fights,  will,  after 
much  money  fpent,  go  home  but  poorly 
entertained: — "  There  is  neither  quarefima" 
will  he  fay,  "  nor  carnovale  in  any  fenfe  of 
the  word,  among  thofe  infipid  iflanders." — 
For  he  who  does  riot  love  our  government, 
^nd  tafte  our  manners  which  refult  from  it, 
can  never  be  delighted  in  England  ;  while 
the  iohabitants  of  our  nation  may  always  be 

amufed 


I7o  OBSERVATION'S    IN    A 

amufed  in  theirs,  without  any  efteem  of  it 
at  all. 

I  know  not  how  Ancona  produced  all  thefe 
tedious  reflexions  :  it  is  a  trading  place,  and 
a  fea-port  town.  Men  working  in  chains 
upon  the  new  mole  did  not  pleafe  me  though, 
and  their  infenfibility  mocks  one: — "  Give  a 
poor  thief  fomething,  mafter,"  fays  one  im- 
pudent fellow;—"  SonJIato  ladro  padrone*  " 
— with  a  grin.  That  fuch  people  mould  be 
corrupt  or  coarfe  however  is  no  wonder  j 
what  furprifed  me  moft  was,  that  v/hen  one 
of  our  company  fpoke  of  his  conduct  to  a 
man  of  the  town — "  Why,  what  would  you 
have,  Sir  ?" — replies  the  perfon  applied  to— 
"  when  the  poor  creature  is  cqftigato^  it  is 
enough  fure,  no  need  to  make  him  be  me- 
lancholy too:" — and  added  with  true  Italian 
good-nature, — "  Siamo  tiitti  peccatori^" 

The  mole  is  a  prodigious  work  indeed;  a 
warm  friend  to  Venice  can  fcarce  wifh  its 
fpeedy  conclufion,  as  the  ufeful  and  necefTary 
parts  of  the  project  are  already  nearly  accom- 
plifhed,  and  it  would  be  pity  to  feduce  more 

*  I  am  a  light-fingered  fellow,  Mafter. 
f  We  are  all  finners  you  know. 

commerce 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        171 

commerce  away  from  Venice,  which  has 
already  loft  fo  much. 

The  triumphal  arch  of  Trajan,  defcribed 
by  every  traveller,  and  juftly  admired  by  all; 
white  as  his  virtue,  ihining  as  his  character, 
and  durable  as  his  fame ;  fixed  our  eyes  a 
long  time  in  admiration,  and  made  us,  while  we 
examined  the  beautiful  ftruclure,  recollect  his 
incomparable  qualities  to  whom  it  was  dedi- 
cated,— "Inter  Cajares  optimus*  " — fays  one 
of  their  old  writers :  nor  could  either  column  or 
arch  be  fo  fure  a  proof  that  he  was  thought 
fo,  as  the  wifh  breathed  at  the  inauguration 
of  fucceeding  emperors  ;  Sis  tu  fcliclor  Au- 
gufto^  mclior  Trajano  f . 

If  thefe  Ancona  men  were  not  proud  of 
themfelves,  one  fhould  hate  them  ;  defcended 
as  they  are  from  thofe  Syracufans  liberated  by 
Timoleon,  who  freed  them  firft  from  the 
tyranny  of  Dionyfius  ;  foftered  afterwards  by 
Trajan,  as  peculiarly  worth  his  notice ;  and 
patronifcd  in  fucceeding  times  by  the  good 
Corfmi  Pope,  Clement  XII.  whofe  care  for 
them  appears  by  the  ufeful  lazaretto  he  built, 

*  The  beft  among  the  Caefars. 

t  Way  ft  thou  be  happier  than  Auguftus!— better  than 
Trajan  ! 

"    tO 


i;a  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

"  to  fave,"  faid  he,  "  our  beft  iubjeds,  our 

fubje&s  of  Ancona." 

But  we  are  haftening  forward  as  faft  as  our 
broken  carriage  will  permit,  to  Padua,  where 
we  fhall  leave  it  :  thither  to  arrive,  we  pafs 
through  Senegallia,  built  by  the  Gauls,  and 
ftill  retaining  the  Gaulifh  name,  but  now 
little  remarkable.  What  ftruck  me  inoft  was 
my  own  crofling  the  Rubicon  in  my  way  back 
to  England,  and  our  comfortable  return  to 

BOLOGNA, 

f 

AFTER  admiring  the  high  forehead  and  in- 
nocent fimper  of  Baroccio's  beauties  at  Pefaro, 
where  the  beft  European  filk  now  comes  from; 
againft  which  the  produce  of  Rimini  Vainly  en- 
deavours to  vie.  That  town  was  once  anUm- 
brian  colony  I  think,  and  there  is  a  fine  memo- 
rial there  where  Diocletianus  repofult^  refolving 
perhaps  to  end  where  Julius  Cxiar  had  begun ; 
he  died  at  Salo  however  in  Dalmatia, 

Qua  maris  Adriaci  longas  ferit  unda  Saloncs. 

Ravenna  TAntica  tired  more  than  it  pleaf- 

ed  us  ;  Fano  is  a  populous  pretty  little  town  ; 

but  I  know  no  reafon  why  it  was   originally 

20  dedicated 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        173 

dedicated  to  Fortune.  Truth  is,  we  are  weary 
of  thefe  facred  fanes^  and  long  to  fee  once 
more  our  amiable  friends  at  Venice  and  at 
Milan. 

I  have  mifled  San  Marino  at  laft,  but  re- 
ceive kind  aflurances  every  day  that  the  lofs 
is  fmall ;  being  now  little  more  than  a  con- 
vent feated  on  a  hill,  which  affords  refuge  for 
robbers  ;  and  that  the  prefent  Pope  meditates 
its  deftrudtion  as  a  nufance  to  tl>2  neighbour- 
ing towns.  There  never  was  any  coin  ftruck 
there  it  feems  ;  I  thought  there  had  :  but  the 
train  of  reflections  excited  by  even  a  diftant 
view  of  it  are  curious  enough  as  oppofed  to 
its  protedrefs  Rome ;  which,  founded  by 
robbers  and  banditti,  ends  in  being  the  feat  of 
fandity  and  prieftly  government ;  while  San 
Marino,  begun  by  a  hermit,  and  fecluded 
from  all  other  ftates  for  the  mere  purpofes  of 
purer  devotion,  finifhes  by  its  neceiFiry  re- 
moval as  a  repofitory  for  aflaflins,  and  a  re- 
fuge for  thofe  who  break  the  laws  with  vio- 
lence. 

Such  is  this  variable  and  capricious  world  ! 
and  fo  dies  a\vay  my  defire  to  examine  this 
political  curiofity  ;  the  extinction    of  which 
I  am  half  forry  for.     Privation  is  ftill  a  me- 
lancholy 


i74  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

lancholy  idea,  and  were  one  to  hear  that  the 
race  of  wafps  were  extirpated,  it  would  grieve 
one. 

Bologna  affords  one  time  for  every  medita- 
tion. No  inn  upon  the  Bath  road  is  more 
elegant  than  the  Pellegrino  ;  and  we  regretted 
our  broken  equipage  the  lefs  as  it  drew  us 
flowly  through  fo  fweet  a  country.  The 
medlar  bloflbms  adorn  the  hedges  with  their 
blanche  rofes  ;  the  hawthorn  bufhes,  later  here 
than  with  us,  perfume  them ;  and  the  roads, 
little  travelled,  do  not  torment  one  with  the 
duft  as  in  England,  where  it  not  only  offends 
the  traveller,  but  takes  away  fome  beauty 
from  the  country,  by  giving  a  brown  or 
whitifh  look  to  the  fhrubs  and  trees.  We 
fhall  repofe  here  very  comfortably,  or  at  leaft 
change  our  mode  of  being  bufy,  which  re- 
fremes  one  perhaps  more  than  pofitive  idle- 
nefs.  "  But  life,'*  fays  fome  writer,  "  is  a 
continual  fever  ;"  and  fure  ours  has  been  com- 
pletely fo  for  thefe  two  years.  A  charming 
lady  of  our  country,  for  whom  I  have  the 
higheft  efteem,  protefts  fhe  mail  be  happy  to 
get  back  to  London  if  it  is  only  for  the  relief 
of  fitting  ftill,  and  refolving  to  fee  no  more 
fights :  exchanging  fafto,  fiera,  and  frittura, 

for 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.  175 
for  a  muffin,  a  mop,  and  a  morning  newfpa- 
per :  three  things  equally  unknown  in  Italy, 
as  the  other  three  among  us. 

With  regard  to  pictures  however,  V Appetlt 
vtent  en  mangeant  *,  as  I  experienced  com- 
pletely when  traverfing  the  Zampieri  palace 
with  eagernefs  that  increafed  at  every  ftep. 
I  once  more  half-worfhipped  the  works  of  di- 
vine Guercino.  Nothing  fhall  prevent  my 
going  to  his  hirth-place  at  Cento,  whether  in 
our  way  or  out  of  it. 

We  ran  about  the  Specola  again,  and  re- 
ceived a  thoufand  polite  attentions  from  the 
gentleman  who  (hewed  it.  The  piece  of  na- 
tive gold  here  is  much  finer  than  that  we  faw 
among  the  treafures  of  Loretto,  which  being 
du  nouveau  continent  is  always  inferior. 
"  But  every  thing  does,"  as  Monf.  de  Buf- 
fon  obferves,  "  degenerate  in  the  Weft 
except  birds ;"  and  the  Brazilian  plumage 
feems  to  furpafs  all  poflibility  of  further  glow. 
The  continent  however  {hews  us  no  fpecimens 
preferved  half  as  well  as  thofe  of  Sir  Amton 
Lever.  The  marine  rarities  here  at  Bologna 
ar«  very  capital ;  but  I  faw  them  to  advantage 

•  Eating  increafes  one's  appetite. 


176  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

now,  in  company  of  Mr.  Chappelow.  We 
iind  this  city  at  once  hot,  and  loud,  and  pious  5 
lefs  empty  of  occupation  though  than  laft 
time ;  for  here  is  a  new  Gonfaloniere  cho- 
fen  in  to-day,  and  the  drums  beat,  and 
the  trumpets  found,  and  fome  donations 
are  diftributed  about,  much  in  the  pro- 
portions Tom  Davis  defcribes  Garrick's  to 
have  been  ;  fmall  pieces  of  money,  and  large 
pieces  of  cake,  with  quantities  of  meat,  bread, 
and  birds,  borne  about  the  town  in  proceffion, 
to  make  difplay  of  bis  bounty,  who  gives  all 
this  away  at  the  time  he  is  elected  into  office. 
Kids  drefled  with  ribbon  therefore,  alive  and 
carried  on  men's  fhoulders  fhowily  adorned, 
lambs  warned  white  as  fnow,  and  pretty  red 
and  white  calves  hanging  their  fimple  faces 
out  of  fine  gilt  bafkets,  paraded  the  ftreets  all 
day.  What  ftruck  us  moft  however  was  an 
ox,  handfomer  and  of  a  more  filvery  coat 
than  I  thought  an  ox's  hide  capable  of  being- 
brought  to  ;  his  horns  gold,  and  a  garland  of 
rofes  between  them.  This  was  beautiful ;  re- 
minded one  of  all  one  had  ever  read  and  heard 
of  victims  going  to  facrifice  ;  and  put  in  our 
heads  again  the  old  ftories  of  Hercules,  Eu- 
ryftheus,  &c. 

At 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.        177 

At  Bologna  though,  every  thing  puts  peo- 
ple in  mind  of  their  prayers ;  fo  a  few  good 
women  nothing  doubting  but  when  fhows 
were  going  forward,  religious  meanings  muft 
be  near  at  hand,  dropt  down  on  their  knees 
in  the  ftreet,  and  recommended  themfelves,  or 
their  dead  friends  perhaps,  to  heaven,  with 
fervent  and  innocent  earneftnefs,  while  the 
cattle  pafled  along.  An  Englifh  clergyman 
in  our  company,  hurt  and  grieved,  yet  half- 
difpofed  to  laugh,  cried,  What  are  thefe 
dear  creatures  muttering  about  now  for,  as  if 
their  falvation  depended  upon  it  ? — It  was  ab- 
furd  enough  to  be  fure  ;  but  in  order  to  check 
our  tittering  difpofition,  I  recollected  to  him, 
that  I  had  once  heard  an  ignorant  woman  in 
Hertfordfhire  repeat  the  abfolution  herfelf  af- 
ter the  prieft,  with  equally  ill-placed  fervour  : 
for  which  he  reprimanded  her,  and  afterwards 
explained  to  her  the  groflhefs  of  the  impro- 
priety. When  we  have  added  to  our  flock  of 
connoifleurfhip  the  graceful  Sampfon,  drink- 
ing after  his  victory,  by  Guido,  in  this  town, 
we  mail  quit  it,  and  proceed  through  empty 
and  deferted  Ferrara  to 


VOL.  II.  N  PADUA, 


178  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 


PADUA. 

WE  fet  out  then  for  Ferrara,  in  our  kind 
friend's  poft-chaife;  that  is,  my  maid  and  I 
did  :  our  good-natured  gentlemen  creeping 
flowly  after  in  the  broken  coach  ;  and  how 
ended  this  project  for  infuring  fafety  ?  Why 
in  the  chaife  lofing  its  hind  wheel,  and  in  our 
return  to  the  carriage  we  had  quitted.  But  it 
is  for  ever  fo,  I  think  ; — the  fick  folks  live  al- 
ways, and  the  well  ones  die. 

We  took  turn  therefore  and  left  our  friends  ; 
but  could  not  forbear  a  vifit  to  Cento,  where 
I  wifhed  much  to  fee  what  Guercirio  had  done 
for  the  ornament  of  his  native  place,  and  was 
amply  repaid  my  pains  by  the  fight  of  one 
picture,  which,  for  its  immediate  power  over  the 
mind,  at  leaft  over  mine,  has  no  equal  even 
in  Palazzo  Zampieri.  It  is  a  fcene  highly 
touching.  The  appearance  of  our  Saviour  to 
his  Mother  after  his  refurrection.  The  dig- 
nity, the  divinity  of  the  Chrift !  the  terror- 
checked  tranfport  vifible  in  the  parent  Saint^ 
whofe  expreflive  countenance  and  pathetic  at- 
titude 


JOURNEY   THROUGH    ITALY.        179 

titude  difplay  fervent  adoration,  maternal  ten- 
dernefs,  and  meek  humility  at  once  !  How 
often  have  I  faid,  this  is  the  fined  picture  we 
have  feen  yet !  when  looking  on  the  Caraccis 
and  their  fchool.  I  will  fay  no  mere,  the 
painter's  art  can  go  no  further  than  this.  My 
partial  preference  of  Guercino  to  any  thing 
and  to  every  thing,  fhall  not  however  bribe  me 
to  fupprefs  my  grief  and  indignation  at  his 
ftrange  method  of  commemorating  his  own 
name  over  the  altar  where  he  was  baptifed, 
which  fhocks  every  proteflant  traveller  by  its 
profanenefs,  while  the  Romanifts  admire  his 
invention,  and  applaud  his  piety.  Guercino 
then,  fo  called  becaufe  he  was  the  little  one- 
eyed  man,  had  a  fancy  to  reprefent  his  real 
appellation  of  John  Francis  Barbieri  in  the 
church ;  and  took  this  mode  as  an  ingenious 
one,  painting  St.  John  upon  the  right  hand, 
St.  Francis  on  the  left,  as  two  large  full-length 
figures,  and  God  the  Father  in  the  middle 
with  a  long  beard  for  Barbieri. 

This  is  a  mixture  of  Abel  Drugger's  con- 
trivance in  the  Alchymift,  and  the  infantine 
folly  of  three  babies  I  once  knew  in  England, 
children  of  a  nobleman,  who  were  feverely 
whipt  by  their  governefs  for  playing  at  Father, 
N  2  Son, 


180  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Son,  and  Holy  Ghoft,  fitting  upon  three 
chairs,  with  folemn  countenances,  in  order  to 
imprefs  their  tender  fancies  with  a  reprefenta- 
tion  of  what  the  good  governefs  innocently 
and  laudably  had  told  them  about  the  myfte- 
rious  and  incomprehenfible  Trinity.  Let 
me  add,  that  the  eldeft  of  thefe  babies  was 
not  fix  years  old,  and  the  youngeft  but  four, 
when  they  were  caught  in  the  blafphemous 
folly.  Our  Italians  feem  to  be  got  very  little 
further  at  forty. 

Padua  appears  cleaner  and  prettier  than  it 
did  laft  year ;  but  fo  many  things  contribute 
to  make  me  love  it  better,  that  it  is  no  won- 
der one  is  prejudiced  in  its  favour.  It  was^/o 
difficult  to  get  fafe  hither,  the  roads  being  very 
bad,  the  people  were  fo  kind  when  we  were 
here  laft,  and  the  very  inn-keeper  and  his  af- 
fiftants  feemed  fo  obligingly  rejoiced  to  fee 
us  again,  that  I  felt  my  heart  quite  expand  at 
entering  the  Aquila  d'oro,  where  we  were  foon 
rejoined  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Greatheed,  with 
whom  we  had  parted  in  the  Romagna,  when 
they  took  the  Perugia  road,  inftead  of  return- 
ing by  Bologna,  a  place  they  had  feen  before. 
Had  we  come  three  days  fooner  we  might  have 
feen  the-  tranfit  of  Mercury  from  Abate 

Toaldo's 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        181 

Toaldo's  obfervatory  ;  but  our  own  tranfit  took 
up  all  our  thoughts,  and  it  is  a  very  great 
mercy  that  we  are  come  fafe  at  laft.  I  think 
it  was  as  much  as  four  bulls  and  fix  horfes 
could  do  to  drag  us  into  Rovigo. 

Bologna  la  Grafifa 
Ma  Padua  la  pafla  *, 

fay  the  Venetians :  and  round  this  town 
where  the  heat  is  indeed  prodigious,  they  get 
the  beft  vipers  for  the  Venice  treacle,  I  am 
told.  Here  are  quantities  of  curious  plants 
to  be  feen  blooming  now  in  the  botanical 
garden,  and  our  kind  profeflbr  told  me  I  need 
not  languifh  fo  for  horfe  chefnuts ;  for  they 
would  all  be  in  flower  as  we  returned  up  the 
Brenta  from  Venice.  "  They  are  all  in  flower 
now,  Sir,"  faid  I,  "  in  my  own  grounds,  eight 
miles  from  London  :  but  our  Englifh  oaks  are 
not  half  fo  forward  as  yours  are."  He  recollected 
theaphorifm  fo  much  a  favourite  with  our  coun- 
try folks  ;  how  a  Britifh  heart  ought  not  to  di- 
late with  the  early  funfhine  of  profperity,  or" 
droop  at  the  iirft  blafts  of  adverfe  fortune,  as 

*  Though  fat  Bologna  feeds  to  the  fill, 
Our  Padua  is  fatter  ftill. 

N  s  the 


iS2  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

the  Britifti  oak  refufes  to  put  out  his  leaves  at 
fummer's  early  felicitations,  and  fcorns  to 
drop  them  at  winter's  firft  rude  fhake. 

Well!  I  have  once  more  walked  over  St. 
Antony's  church,  and  examined  the  has  reliefs 
that  adorn  his  fhrine ;  but  their  effect  has 
ceafed.  Whoever  has  fpent  fome  time  in  the 
Mufeum  Clementinum  is  callous  to  the  won- 
$ers  which  fculpture  can  perform. 

Has  one  not  read  in  Ulloa's  travels,  of  a 
refting-place  on  the  fide  of  a  Cordillera  among 
the  Andes,  where  the  afcending  traveller  is  re- 
gularly obferved  to  put  on  additional  cloth-? 
ing,  while  he  who  comes  down  the  mountain 
feels  fp  hot  that  he  throws  his  clothes  away  ? 
So  it  is  with  the  fhrine  of  St.  Antonio  di  Pa- 
dua, and  one's  paffion  for  the  fculpture  that 
adorns  it:  while  Santa  Giuftina's  church  re- 
tains her  power  over  the  mind,  a  power  ne- 
ver miffed  by  fimplicity,  while  great  effort 
has  often  fmall  effect.  But  we  are  haftening 
to  Venice,  and  fhall  leave  our  cares  and  our 
coach  behind;  fuperfluous  as  they  both  are, 
in  a  city  which  admits  of  neither. 


JOURNEY   THROUGH   ITALY.        183 


VENICE. 

OUR  watery  journey  was  indeed  delightful ; 
friendmip,mufic,poetry  combined  their  charms 
with  thofe  of  nature  to  enchant  us,  and  make  one 
think  the  paffage  was  too  fhort,  though  long- 
ing  to  embrace  our  much-regretted  fweet 
companions.  The  fcent  of  odoriferous  plants, 
the  fmoothnefs  of  the  water,  the  fweetnefs  of 
the  piano  forte,which  allured  to  its  banks  many 
of  the  gay  inhabitants,  who  glad  of  a  change 
in  the  variety  of  their  amufements,  came 
down  to  the  mores  and  danced  or  fang,  as  we 
went  by,  feized  every  fenfe  at  once,  and  filled 
me  with  unaffected  pleafure.  I  longed  to  fee 
the  weeping  willow  planted  along  this  elegant 
flream  ;  but  the  Venetians  like  to  fee  nothing 
weep  I  fancy  :  yet  the  Salix  Babylonica  would 
have  a  fine  effect  here,  and  fpread  to  a  pro- 
digious growth,  like  thofe  on  which  the  cap- 
tive Ifraelites  once  hung  their  harps,  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Euphrates.  "  Of  all  Eu- 
rope however,"  Millar  fays,  "  it  profpers 
belt  in  penfive  Britain  ;" 

N  4  No: 


i$±  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Nor  prov'd  the  blifs  that  lulls  Italia's  breaft, 
When  red-brow'd  evening  calmly  finks  to  reft. 

Thefe  lines,  quoted  from  Merry's  Paulina^ 
remind  me  of  the  pleafure  we  enjoyed  in 
reading  that  glorious  poem  as  we  floated  down 
the  Brenta.  I  have  certainly  read  no  poetry 
fmce ;  that  would  be  like  looking  at  Sanfo- 
vino's  fculpture,  after  having  feen  the  Apollo, 
the  Venus,  and  the  Flora  Farnefe.  The  view 
of  Venice  only  made  us  fhut  the  book.  Love- 
ly Venice  !  w.ife  in  her  councils,  grave  and 
fteady  in  her  juft  authority,  fplendid  in  her 
palaces,  gay  in  her  cafmos,  and  charming  in  all. 

Fama  tra  noi  Roma  pompofa  e  fanta, 
Venezia  ricca,  faggia,  e  fignorile  *, 

fays  the  Italian  who  celebrates  all  their  towns 
by  adding  a  well-adapted  epithet  to  each.  But 
Sannazarius,  who  experienced  in  return  for 
it  more  than  even  Britifh  bounty  would  have 
beftowed,  exalts  it  in  his  famous  epigram  to  a 
decided  preference  even  over  Rome  itfelf. 

*  Pompous  and  holy  ancient  Rome  we  call, 
Venice  rich,  wife,  and  lordly  over  all. 

Viderat 


JOURNEY  THROUGH    ITALY.        185 

Viderat  Adriacis  Venetam  Neptunus  in  undis 
Stare  urbem,  et  toti  ponere  jura  Mari  j 

Nunc  mihi  Tarpeias  quantum  vis  Jupiter,  arces 
Objice,  et  ilia  tui  mcenia  Martis  ait 

Sit  PelagoTibrim  prasfers,urbem  afpiceutramque 
Illatn  homines  dices,  hanc  pofuifTe  Deos. 

And  now  really,  if  the  fubjeft  did  not  bribe 
me  to  admiration  of  them,  I  fhould  have 
much  ado  to  think  thefe  fix  lines  better  worth 
fifty  pounds  a  piece,  the  price  Sannazarius 
was  paid  for  them,  than  many  lines  I  have 
read;  as  mythological  allufions  are  always 
cheaply  obtained,  and  this  can  hardly  be  faid 
to  run  with  any  peculiar  happinefs  :  for  if 
Mars  built  the  Wall,  and  Jupiter  founded  the 
Capitol,  how  could  Neptune  juftly  challenge 
this  laft  among  all  people,  to  look  on  both,  and 
fay,  That  men  built  Rome,  but  the  Gods 
founded  Venice.  Had  he  faid,  that  after  all 
their  pains,  this  was  the  manner  in  which 
thofe  two  cities  would  in  future  times  ftrike 
all  impartial  obfervers,  it  would  have  been 
enough ;  and  it  would  have  been  true,  and 
when  fiftion  has  done  its  beft, 

I  ,e  vray  feul  eft  aimable  *. 

*  Truth  alone  is  pleafing. 

Here, 


j86  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Here,  however,  is  the  beft  tranflation  cr  imi- 
tation I  can  make,  of  the  beft  praife  ever  given 
to  this  juftly  celebrated  city.  Baron  Cronthal, 
the  learned  librarian  of  Brera,  gave  me,  when 
at  Milan,  the  epigram,  and  perfuaded  me  to 
try  at  a  tranflation,  but  I  never  could  fucceed 
till  I  had  been  upon  the  grand  canal. 

When  Neptune  firft  with  pleafure  and  furprife, _ 
Proud  from  her  fubjed  fea  faw  Venice  rife ; 
Let  Jove,  faid  he,  vaunt  his  fam'd  walls  no  more, 
Tarpeia's  rock,  or  Tyber's  fane-full  fhore ; 
While  human  hands  thofe  glittering  fabrics  frame, 
By  touch  celeftial  beauteous  Venice  came. 

It  is  a  fweet  place  fure  enough,  and  the  caged* 
nightingales  who,  when  men  are  moft  filent, 
anfwer  each  other  acrofs  the  canals,  increafe 
the  enchantments  of  Venetian  moon-light ; 
while  the  full  gondolas  fkimming  over  the 
tide  with  a  lanthorn  in  their  ftern,  like  glow- 
worms of  a  dark  evening,  darning  the  cool 
wave  too  as  they  glide  along,  leave  no  mo- 
ments unmarked  by  peculiarity  of  pleafure. 
The  Doge's  wedding  has  however  been  lefs 
brilliant  this  year ;  his  galleys  have  been  fent 
to  fight  the  Turks  and  Corfairs,  and  the 
fplendor  at  home  of  courfe  fuffers  fome  tem- 

*  Wilt  thou  have  mufic  ?   hark,  Apollo  plays, 
And  twenty,  caged  nightingales  (hall  {ing. 

SHAKESPEARE. 

porary 


JOURNEY   THROUGH   ITALY.        187 

porary  diminution  ;  but  the  corfo  of  boats  in 
the  evening  muft  be  for  ever  charming,  and 
the  mufical  parties  upon  the  water  delightful. 
We  pafled  this  morning  in  Pinelli's  library,  a 
collection  fo  valuable  from  the  frequence  of 
old  editions,  particularly  the  old  fourteen 
hundreds  as  we  call  them,  that  it  is  fuppofed 
they  will  be  purchafed  by  fome  crowned  head ; 
and  here  are  fpecimens  of  Aldus's  printing  too, 
very  curious ;  but  there  are  too  many  curiofities, 

I'm  ftrangled  with  the  wafte  fertility, 

as  Milton  fays.  Pinelli  had  an  excellent  tafte 
for  pictures  likewife,  and  here  at  Venice  there 
are  paintings  to  fatisfy,  nay  fatiate  connoifleur- 
fhip  herfelf,  Tintoret's  force  of  colouring  at 
St.  Rocque's,  difplayed  in  the  crucifixion,  can 
furely  be  exceeded  by  no  difpolition  of  light 
and  fliade ;  but  the  Scuola  Bolognefe  has  hard- 
ened my  heart  againft  merit  of  any  other  fort, 
fo  much  more  eafy  to  be  obtained,  than  that 
of  character,  dignity,  arid  truth.  Paul  Vero- 
nefe  forgets  too  feldom  his  original  trade  of 
orefice^  there  is  too  much  gold  and  filver  in  his 
drapery  ;  and  though  Darius's  ladies  are  judi- 
cioufly  adorned  with  a  great  deal  of  it  here 
at  Palazzp  Pifani,  I  would  willingly  have 

abated 


j88  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

abated  fome  brocade,  for  an  addition  of  ex- 
preflive  majefty  in  the  Alexander,  What  a 
ftrrking  difference  there  is  too  between  Guer- 
cino's  prodigal  returned,  and  a  picture  at  fome 
Venetian  palace  of  the  fame  ftory  treated  by 
Leandro  Baffano !  yet  who  can  forbear  crying 
out  Nature,  nature  !  when  in  the  laft  named 
work  one  fees  the  faithful  fpaniel  run  out  to 
meet  and  acknowledge  his  poor  young  mafter 
though  in  rags,  while  the  cook  admiring  the 
uncommon  fatnefs  of  the  calf,  feems  to  anti- 
cipate the  pleafure  of  a  jolly  day :  fo  if  the 
old  father  does  look  a  little  like  pantaloon, 
why  one  forgives  him,  for  we  are  not  told 
that  the  fable  had  to  do  with  nobilta,  though 
Guercino  has  made  bis  mafter  of  the  houfe  a 
rich  and  (lately  oriental,  who  meets  and  con- 
foles,  near  a  column  of  Grecian  architecture, 
his  penitent  fon,  whofe  half-uncovered  form 
exhibits  beauty  funk  into  decay,  and  whole 
graceful  expreffion  of  fhame  and  forrow  mew 
the  dignity  of  his  original  birth,  and  little  ex- 
pectation of  the  ill-endured  pains  his  poverty 
has  caufed  :  the  elder  brother,  meantime, 
glowing  with  refentment,  and  turning  with 
apparent  fcorn  away  from  the  fight  of  a  fcene 
fo  little  to  the  honour  of  the  family.  Bafta  ! 

as 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.        189 

as  the  Italians  fay;  when  we  were  at  Rome 
we  purchafed  a  fine  view  of  St.  Mark's  Place 
Venice ;  now  we  are  at  Venice  we  have 
bought  a  (ketch  of  Guide's  Aurora.  The 
Doge's  dinner  was  magnificent,  the  plate  older 
and  I  think  finer  than  the  Pope's;  I  forget 
on  what  occafion  it  was  given,  I  mean  the 
feaft,  but  had  it  been  an  annual  ceremony  our 
kind  friends  would  have  {hewn  it  us  laft  year. 
We  muft  leave  them  once  more,  for  a  long 
time  I  fear,  but  I  part  with  lefs  regret  becaufe 
the  heat  grows  almoft  infupportable ;  and 
either  the  ftench  of  the  fmall  canals,  or  elfc 
the  too  great  abundance  of  fardelline,  a  frefh 
anchovy  with  which  thefe  feas  abound,  keep 
me  unwell  and  in  perpetual  fear  of  catching 
a  putrid  fever,  fhould  I  indulge  in  eating  once 
again  of  fo  rich  but  dangerous  a  dainty.  Be- 
fides  that  one  may  be  tired  of  exertion,  and 
fatigued  with  feftivity,  purchafed  at  the  price 
of  deep  and  quiet. 

Non  Hybla  non  me  fpecifer  capit  Nilus, 

Nee  quse  paludes  delicata  Pomptinus 

Ex  arce  clivi  fpeclat  uva  Seftini. 

Quid  concupifcam  ?  quseris  ergo, — dormire  *. 

*  Not  Hybla's  fweets,  nor  Naples  devoloons, 

Nor  grapes  which  hide  the  hill  with  rich  feftoons; 

Nor  fat  Bologna's  valley,  have  I  chofe; 

What  is  your  wifh  then  ?  May  I  fpealc  ?— repofe. 


igo  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 


To       PADUA. 


THEN  we  returned  the  twelfth  of  June,  and 
furely  it  is  too  difficult  to  defcribe  the  fweet 
fenfations  excited  by  the  enjoyment  of 

Each  rural  fight,  each  rural  found  ; 

as  the  dear  banks  of  the  Brenta  firft  faluted  our 
return  to  terrafrma  from  the  watery  refidence 
of  our  bella  dominants.  We  dined  at  a  lovely 
villa  belonging  to  an  amiable  friend  upon  the 
margin  of  the  river,  where  the  kind  embraces 
of  the  Padrona  di  Cafa,  added  to  the  fragrance 
of  her  garden,  and  the  fweet  breath  of  oxen 
drawing  in  her  team,  revived  me  once  more  to 
the  enjoyment  of  cheerful  converfation,  by 
reftoring  my  natural  health,  and  proving  be- 
yond a  poffibility  of  doubt,  that  my  late  difor- 
der  was  of  the  putrid  kind.  We  dined  in  a 
grotto-like  room,  and  partook  the  evening  re- 
fremments,  cake,  ice,  and  lemonade,  under  a 
tree  by  the  river  fide,  whilft  my  own  feelings 
reminded  me  of  the  failors  delight  defcribed 
in  Anfon's  voyages  when  they  landed  at  Juan 

Fernandez. 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        191 

Fernandez.  Night  was  beft  difpofed  of  in  the 
barge,  and  I  obferved  as  we  entered  Padua 
early  in  the  morning,  how  furprifingly  quick 
had  been  the  progrefs  of  fummer  ;  but  in 
thefe  countries  vegetation  is  fo  rapid,  that 
every  thing  makes  hafte  to  come  and  more  to 
go.  Scarce  have  you  tafted  green  peafe  or 
ftrawberries,  before  they  are  out  of  feafon ;  and 
if  you  do  not  fwallow  your  pleafures,  as  Ma- 
dame la  Prefidente  faid,  you  have  a  chance  to 
mifs  of  getting  any  pleafures  at  all.  Here  is 
no  mediocrity  in  any  thing,  no  moderate 
weather,  no  middle  rank  of  life,  no  twilight ; 
whatever  is  not  night  is  day,  and  whatever  is 
not  love  is  hatred  ;  and  that  the  Englifh 
fhould  eat  peaches  in  May,  and  green  peafe 
in  October,  founds  to  Italian  ears  as  a  miracle ; 
they  comfort  themfelves,  however,  by  faying 
that  they  mujl  be  very  infipid,  while  we  know 
that  fruits  forced  by  ftrong  fire  are  at  leaft 
many  of  them  higher*  in  flavour  than  thofe 
produced  by  fun  ;  the  pine-apple  particularly, 
which  Weft  Indians  confefs  eats  better  with  us 
than  with  them.  Figs  and  cherries,  however, 
defy  a  hot-houfe,  and  grapes  raifed  by  art  are 
worth  little  except  for  mew ;  peaches,  nedtarines, 
and  ananas  are  the  glory  of  a  Britifh  gardener, 
01  and 


192  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

and  no  country  but  England  can  {hew  fuch. 
Our  morning,  pafled  at  the  villa  of  the  fenator 
Quirini,  fet  us  on  this  train  of  thinking,  for 
every  culled  excellence  adorned  it,  and  brought 
to  my  mind  Voltaire's  defcription  of  Pococu- 
ranti  in  Candide,  falfe  only  in  the  oftentation, 
•and  there  the  character  fails ;  mifled  by  a  French 
idea,  that  pleafure  is  nothing  without  the  de- 
light of  {hewing  that  you  are  pleafed,  like  the 
old  adage,  or  often-quoted  paflage  about  learn- 
ing : 

Scire  tuum  nihil  eft,  nifi  te  fcire  hoc  fciat  alter  *. 

A  Venetian  has  no  fuch  notions  ;  by  force  of 
mind  and  dint  of  elegance  inherent  in  it,  he 
pleafes  himfelf  firft,  and  finds  every  body  elfe 
delighted  of  courfe,  nor  would  quit  his  own 
country  except  for  paradife  ;  while  an  Engli{h 
nobleman  clumps  his  trees,  and  twifts  his  river, 
to  comply  with  his  neighbour's  tafte,  when  per- 
haps he  has  none  of  his  own  ;  feels  difgufted 
with  all  he  has  done,  and  runs  away  to  live 
in  Italy. 

The  evening  of  this  day  was  fpent  at  the 
theatre,  where  I  was  glad  the  audience  were 
no  better  pleafed,  for  the  plaudits  of  an  Italian 

*  Thy  knowledge  is  nothing  till  other  men  know  that 
thou  knov/eft  it. 

Platea 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.          193 

Platea  at  an  air  they  like,  when  one's  nerves 
are  weak  and  trie  weather  very  hot,  are  all 
but  totally  infupportable.  What  then  muft 
thefe  poor  actors  have  fuffered,  who  laboured 
fo  violently  to  entertain  us  ?  A  tragedy  in 
rhyme  upon  the  fubject  of  Julius  Sabinus  and 
his  wife  Epponina  was  the  reprefentation ;  and 
wonderfully  indeed  did  the  players  ftruggle, 
and  bounce,  and  fprunt,  like  vigorous  patients 
refifting  the  influence  of  a  difeafe  called  opif- 
thotonos,  or  dry  gripes  of  Jamaica  ;  "  Were 
their  jaws  once  locked  we  fhould  do  better," 
faid  Mr.  Chappelow.  "  Che  fpacca  monti 
mai !"  exclaimed  the  gentle  Padovani.  Spacca 
invite  means  juft  our  Englifh  Drawcanfir,  a 
fellow  that  fplits  mountains  with  his  blufter, 
a  captain  Bloiumedoivn. 

The  fair  at  Padua  is  a  better  place  for 
fpending  one's  time  than  the  theatre;  it  is 
built  round  a  pretty  area,  and  I  much  wonder 
the  middle  is  not  filled  by  a  band  of  mufic. 
Our  Aftley  is  expected  to  mine  here  fhortly, 
and  the  ladies  are  in  hafte  to  fee  il  bel  Inglefe 
a  Cavallo  ;  but  we  muft  be  feduced  to  ftay  no 
longer  among  thofe  whom  I  muft  ever  leave 
with  grateful  regret  and  truly  affectionate 
regard.  Our  carriage  is  repaired,  and  the  man 

VOL.  II.  O  fays 


i94  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

fays  it  will  now  carry  us  fafely  round  the  world 
if  we  pleafe  ;  our  firft  ftage  however  will  be 
no  farther  than  to  pretty 


VERONA. 

THE  road  from  Padua  hither  is  a  vile  one; 
one  can  fcarcely  make  twenty  miles  a-day  in 
any  part  of  the  Venetian  ftate,  Its  fenators, 
accuftomed  to  water  carriage,  have  little  care 
for  us  who  go  by  land.  The  Palanzuola 
way  is  worfe  however,  and  I  am  glad  once 
more  to  fee  fweet  Verona. 

Petruchio  and  Catharine  might  eafily  have 
met  with  all  the  adventures  related  by  Grumio 
on  their  journey  thither,  but  when  once  ar- 
rived me  fhould  have  been  contented.  This 
city  is  as  lovely  as  ever,  more  fo  than  it  was 
laft  April  twelvemonth,  when  the  fpring  was 
fullen  and  backward ;  every  hill  now  glows 
with  the  gay  produce  of  fummer,  and  every 
valley  fmiles  with  plenty  expeded  or  pleafure 
poflefled.  The  antiquities  however  look  lefs 
13  refpe&able 


jdURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.       195 

i-efpectable  than  when  I  left  them  ;  no  am- 
phitheatre will  do  after  the  Roman  Cbloflseum, 
and  our  triumphal  arch  here  looked  fo  pitiful, 
I  wondered  what  was  come  to  it.  So  muft  it 
always  happen  to  the  performances  of  art,  which 
we  compare  one  againft  Another,  and  find 
that  as  man  made  the  beft  of  them,  fo  fome 
man  may  in  fome  moment  make  a  better  ftill : 
but  the  productions  of  nature  are  the  works 
of  God ;  we  can  only  compare  them  with 
other  things  done  by  the  fame  Almighty  Maf- 
ter,  whofe  power  is  equally  difcernible  in  all^ 
from  the  fly's  antenhse  to  the  elephant's  prb- 
bofcis*  Bozza's  collection  gave  birth  to  this 
laft  fentence ;  the  farther  one  goes  the  more 
aftoniming  grows  his  mufeum,  the  neglect  of 
which  is  fure  no  credit  to  the  prefent  age.  I 
find  his  cabinet  much  fuller  than  I  left  it,  and 
adorned  with  many  new  fpecimens  from  the 
fouthern  feas,  befides  flying-fifh  innumerable, 
beautifully  preferred,  and  one  predaceous 
creature  caught  in  the  very  act  of  gorging  his 
prey,  a  proof  of  their  deftruction  being  inftant 
as  that  of  the  dwellers  in  Pompeia,  who  had 
their  dinners  difhed  when  the  eruption  over- 
whelmed them. 

Oa  We 


196  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

We  took  leave  of  our  learned  friends  here 
with  concern,  but  hope  to  fee  them  again,  and 
tread  the  ftucco  floors  fo  prettily  mottled  and 
variegated,  they  look  like  the  cold  mock  turtle 
foup  exactly,  which  London  paflry-cooks  keep 
in  their  {hops,  ready  for  immediate  ufe. 

What  an  odd  thing  is  cuftom !  here  is  weather 
to  fry  one  in,  yet  after  exercife,  and  in  a  ftate 
of  the  moft  violent  perfpiration,  no  confe- 
quences  follow  the  ufe  of  iced  beverages,  ex- 
cept the  fenfe  of  pleafure  refulting  from  them 
at  the  moment.  Should  a  Bath  belle  indulge 
in  fuch  luxury,  after  dancing  down  forty 
couple  at  Mr.  Tyfon's  ball,  we  fhould  expect 
to  hear  next  day  of  her  furfeit  at  leaft,  if  not 
of  her  fudden  death.  Lying-in  ladies  take 
the  fame  liberty  with  their  conflitutions,  and 
fay  that  no  harm  comes  of  it  j  and  when  I  tell 
them  how  differently  we  manage  in  England, 
cry,  "  mi  pare  cbe  devefferefcbtavitugrande 
in  quel  paefe  dell  a  benedetta  liber t  a  *."  Fine 
mullin  linen  nicely  got  up  is  however,  fay 
they,  one  of  the  things  to  be  produced  only  in 
Great  Britain,  and  much  do  our  Italian  ladies 
admire  it,  though  they  look  very  charmingly 

*  Methinks  there  feems  to  be  much  flavery  required 
from  thofe  who  inhabit  your  fine  free  country  of  England. 

with 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.        197 

with  much  lefs  trouble  taken.  I  lent  one  lady 
at  fome  place,  I  remember,  my  maid,  to  fhew 
her,  as  fhe  fo  much  wifhed  it,  how  the  ope- 
ration of  clear-ftarching  was  performed ;  but 
as  foon  as  it  began,  fhe  laughed  at  the  fuper- 
fluous  fatigue,  as  fhe  called  it;  and  her  fer- 
vants  croiFed  themfelves  in  every  corner  of 
the  room,  with  wonder  that  fuch  niceties 
fhould  be  required. — Well  they  might !  for 
I  caught  a  great  tall  fellow  ironing  his  lady's 
beft  neck-handkerchief  with  the  warming- 
pan  here  at  Padua  very  quietly ;  and  fhe  was 
a  woman  of  quality  too,  and  looked  as  lovely, 
when  the  toilette  was  once  performed,  as  if 
much  more  attention  had  been  beftowed 
upon  it. 


PARMA. 

WE  pafled  through  Mantua  the  iSth  of 
June,  where  nothing  much  attracted  my  no- 
tice, except  a  female  figure  in  the  ftreet,  veiled 
from  head  to  foot,  and  covered  wholly  in 
black;  fhe  walked  backward  and  forward 
along  the  fame  portion  of  the  fame  ftreet,  from 
one  to  three  o'clock,  in  the  heat  of  the  burn- 
O  3  ing 


198  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

ing  fun  5  her  hand  held  put ;  but  when  L 
more  from  curipiity  than  any  better  motive 
put  money  in  it,  fhe  threw  it  filently  away,  and 
the  beggars  picked  it  up,  while  fhe  held  her  hand 
again  as  before.  This  conduct,  in  any  town  of 
England,  would  be  deemed  madnefs  or  mif- 
chief ;  the  woman  would  be  carried  before  a 
magiftrate  to  give  an  account  of  herfelf,  mould 
the  mob  forbear  to  uncafe  her  till  they  came ; 
or  fome  charitable  perfon  would  feize  and 
carry  her  home,  fill  her  pockets  with  money, 
and  coax  her  out  of  the  anecdotes  of  her  pad 
life  to  put  in  the  Magazine  ;  her  print  would 
be  publifhed,  and  many  engravers  ftruggle 
for  its  profits  ;  the  name  at  bottom,  Annabella^ 
or  the  Sable  Matron ;  while  novels  would  be 
written  without  end,  and  the  circulating  li- 
braries would  lend  them  out  all  the  live-long 
day.  Things  are  differently  carried  on  how- 
ever at  Mantua  :  I  afked  one  mopkeeper,  and 
ihe  gravely  replied, "  per  divoxione"  and  took 
no  further  notice  :  another  (to  my  inquiries, 
which  appeared  to  him  far  odder  than  the  wo- 
man's conduct)  faid,  The  lady  was  poflibly  doing 
a  little  penance  ;  that  he  had  not  minded  her 
till  I  fpoke,  but  that  perhaps  it  might  be  fome 
woman  of  fafhion,  who  having  refufed  a  poor 

perfon 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.        199 

perfon  roughly  on  foiiie  occafion,  was  con- 
demned by  her  confeflbr  to  try  for  a  couple 
of  hours  what  begging  was,  and  learn  huma- 
nity from  experience  of  evil.  The  idea 
charmed  me  ;  while  the  man  coolly  faid,  all 
this  was  only  his  conjecture;  but  that  fuch 
things  were  done  too  often  to  attract  atten- 
tion ;  and  hoped  fuch  virtue  was  not  rare 
enough  to  excite  wonder.  My  juft  applaufe 
of  fuch  fentiments  was  ftopt  by  the  fa- 
quais  de  place  calling  me  to  dinner ;  when 
he  informed  me,  that  he  had  afked  about  the 
perfbn  whofe  behaviour  ftruck  me  fo,  and 
could  now  tell  me  all  there  was  to  be  known: 
me  was  a  lady  of  quality,  he  faid,  who  had 
loft  a  dear  friend  on  that  day  fome  years  paft, 
and  that  me  wore  black  for  two  hours  ever 
fince  upon  its  anniverfary  j  but  that  (he 
would  now  change  her  drefs,  and  I  mould 
fee  her  in  the  evening  at  the  opera.  My  re- 
collecting that  if  this  were  her  cafe,  I  ought  to 
have  been  keeping  her  company  (as  no  one 
ever  loft  a  friend  fo  dear  to  them  as  was  my 
incomparable  mother,  who  likewife  left  me  to 
mourn  her  lofs  on  this  day  thirteen  years), 
fpoiled  my  appetite,  and  took  from  me  all 
power  of  meeting  the  lady  at  the  theatre. 

O  4  We 


zoo          OBSERVATIONS   IN    A 

We  went  again  however  to  fee  Virgil's 
field,  and  recollected  that  tenet  mmc  Par- 
thenope ;  congratulated  the  giants  on  their  fu- 
periority  over  Pietro  de  Cortona's  paltry 
creatures,  in  one  of  the  Roman  palaces ;  and 
drove  forward  to  Parma,  through  bad  roads 
enough. 

This  Mantua  is  a  very  difagreeable  town; 
nor  was  Romeo  wrong  in  lamenting  his  ba- 
nifhment  to  it ;  for  though  I  will  not  fay  with 
him  that — 

,'-'   There  is  no  world  without  Verona's  walls ; 

yet  it  muft  be  allowed  that  few  places  do 
unite  fuch  various  excellencies,  and  that  the 
contraft  is  very  ftriking  between  that  city  and 
this. 

Parma  exhibits  an  appearance  fomewhat 
different  from  all  the  reft ;  yet  we  fhould 
fcarcely  have  vifited  it  but  for  the  fake  of  the 
four  furprifmg  pictures  it  contains :  the  Ma- 
dona  della  Scoddla  is  nature  itfelf;  and  St. 
Girolamo  exhibits  fuch  a  proof  of  fancy  and 
fervour,  as  are  almoft  inconceivable  ;  the  ge- 
neral effect,  and  the  difficulty  one  has  to  take 
one's  eye  off  it,  afford  conviction  of  its  fu- 

perior 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.          201 

perior  merit,  and  greatly  compenfate  for  that 
tafte,  character,  and  expreflion,  which  are 
found  only  in  the  Caraccis  and  their  fchool. 
Corregio  was  perhaps  one  of  the  mofl  power- 
ful geniufles  that  has  appeared  on  earth ; 
deftitute  of  knowledge,  or  of  the  means  of  ac- 
quiring it,  he  has  left  glorious  proofs  of  what 
uninltructed  man  may  do,  and  is  perhaps  a 
greater  honour  to  the  human  fpecies,  than 
thofe  who,  from  fermenting  erudition  of  va- 
rious kinds,  produce  performances  of  more 
complicated  worth.  The  Fatal  Curiofity,  and 
Pilgrim's  Progrefs,  will  live  as  long  as  the 
Prince  of  Abyffinia,  or  Les  Avantures  de  Tt- 
hmaque,  perhaps :  and  who  mail  dare  fay,  that 
Lillo,  Bunyan,  and  Antonio  Corregio,  were 
not  naturally  equal  to  Johnfon,  Michael  An- 
gelo,  and  the  Archbifhop  of  Cambray  ? — 
Have  I  faid  enough,  or  can  enough  be  ever 
faid  in  praife  of  a  painter,  whofe  works  the 
great  Annibale  Caracci  delighted  to  ftudy,  to 
copy,  and  to  praife  ? 

Piacenza  we  found  to  offer  us  few  objects 
of  attention  :  an  improvifatore,  and  not  a  very 
bad  one,  amufed  that  time  which  would 
otherwife  have  been  paffed  in  lamenting  our 

paucity 


202  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

paucity  of  entertainment ;  while  his  artful 
praifes  of  England  put  me  in  good  humour, 
fpite  of  the  weather,  which  is  too  hot  to  bear. 
With  all  our  lamentations  about  the  heat 
however,  here  is  no  cicala  on  the  trees,  or 
lucclohi  in  the  hedges,  as  at  Florence;  the  days 
are  a  little  longer  too,  and  the  crepufcule  lefs 
abrupt  in  its  departure.  How  often,  upon 
the  Ponte  della  Trinita,  have  I  fecretly  re^ 
gretted  the  long-drawn  evenings  of  an  Eng- 
lifh  fuminer ;  when  the  dewy  night-fall  re^ 
frefhes  the  air,  and  filent  dufk  brings  on  a 
train  of  meditations  uninfpired  by  Italian 
ikies  !  In  this  decided  country  all  that  is  not 
broad  day  is  dark  night ;  all  that  is  not  loud 
mirth,  is  penitence  and  grief;  when  the  rain 
falls,  it  falls  in  a  torrent ;  when  the  fun  mines, 
it  glows  like  a  burning-glafs ;  where  the 
people  are  rich,  they  flick  gems  in  their  very 
\valls,  and  make  their  chimneys  of  amethyft; 
where  they  are  poor,  they  clafp  your  knees 
in  an  agony  of  pinching  want,  and  difplay 
difeafes  which  cannot  be  a  day  furvived! 

Talking  on  about  Italy  in  which  there  is  no 
mediocrity,  and  of  England  in  which  there  is 
nothing  elfe,  we  arrived  at  £,odi ;  where  I 

began 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.       203 

fregan  to  rejoice  in  hearing  the  people  cry 
lio    cor   altr    again,   in   reply  to   our   com- 
mands ;  becaufe  we  were  now  once  more  re- 
turned   to  the   diftrid   and  dialed:   of  dear 
Milan,  where  we  have  cool  apartments  and 
warm  friends  ;  and  where,  after  an  abfence 
of  fifteen  months,   we  fhall  again  fee  thofe 
acquaintance    with    whom    we   lived    much 
before  ;  a  fenfation  always  delightfully  footh- 
ing,  even  when  one  returns  to  lefs  amiable 
fcenes,  and  lefs  productive  of  innocent  plea- 
fure  than  thefe  have  been  to  me.     The  con- 
fcioufnefs  of  having,  while  at  a  diftance,  feen 
few  people  more  agreeable  than  thofe  one  left 
behind  ;     the  natural   thankfulnefs   of  one's 
heart  to  God,  for  having  preferved  one's  life 
fo   as  to    fee   them    again,   expands  philan- 
thropy ;    and  gives  unaffeded  comfort  in  the 
raftered  fociety  of  companions  long  concealed 
from  one  by  accident  or  diftance. 


204         OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 


MILAN. 

aift  June  1786. 

AFTER  rejoicing  over  my  houfe  and  my 
friends ;  after  afking  a  hundred  queftions, 
and  hearing  a  hundred  ftories  of  thofe  long 
left;  after  reciprocating  common  civilities, 
and  talking  over  common  topics,  we  ob- 
ferved  how  much  the  general  look  of  Milan 
was  improved  in  thefe  laft  fifteen  months  ; 
how  the  town  was  become  neater,  the  ordi- 
nary people  fmarter,  the  roads  round  their 
city  mended,  and  the  beggars  cleared  away 
from  the  ftreets.  We  did  not  find  however 
that  the  people  we  talked  to  were  at  all 
charmed  with  thefe  new  advantages :  their 
convents  demolifhed,  their  proceflions  put  an 
end  to,  the  number  of  their  priefts  of  courfe 
contracted,  and  their  church  plate  carried  by 
cart-loads  to  the  mint ;  holidays  forbidden, 
and  every  faint's  name  erafed  from  the  ca- 
lendar, excepting  only  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul ; 
whilft  thofe  fhopkeepers  who  worked  for 

monafteries, 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.      205 

monafteries,  and  thofe  muficians  who  fung  or 
played  in  oratorios,  are  left  to  find  employ- 
ment how  they  can  ;  —  cloud  the  counte- 
nances of  all,  and  juftly;  as  fuch  fudden  and 
rough  reforms  fhock  the  feelings  of  the  mul- 
titude ;  offend  the  delicacy  of  the  nobles; 
make  a  general  ftagnation  of  bufmefs  and  of 
pleafure,  in  a  country  wrhere  both  depend  upon 
religious  functions ;  and  terrify  the  clergy 
into  no  ill-grounded  apprehenfions  of  being 
found  in  a  few  years  more  wholly  ufelefs,  and 
as  fuch  diimifled. — Well!  whatever  is  done 
haftily,  can  fcarcely  be  done  quite  well ;  and 
wherever  much  is  done,  a'  great  part  of  it  will 
doubtlefs  be  done  wrong.  A  confiderable 
portion  of  all  this  however  will  be  confefied 
ufeful,  and  even  neceflary,  when  the  hour 
of  violence  on  one  fide,  and  prejudice  on  the 
other,  is  paft  away ;  as  the  fire  of  London  has 
been  found  beneficial  by  thofe  who  live  in  the 
newly-reftored  town.  Meantime  I  think  the 
prefent  precipitation  indecent  enough  for  rny 
own  part ;  a  thoufand  little  errors  would  burn 
out  of  themfelves,  were  they  fuffered  to  die 
quietly  away ;  and  when  the  morning  breaks 
in  naturally,  it  is  fuperfluous  as  awkward  to 
put  the  itars  out  with  one's  fingers,  like  the 

Hours 


ac6  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

Hours  in  Guercino's  Aurora*.  Whoever  there* 
fore  will  be  at  the  pains  a  little  to  pick  their* 
principles,  not  grafp  them  by  the  bunch,  will 
find  as  many  unripe  at  one  end,  I  believe,  as 
there  are  rotten  at  the  other :  for  could  we 
fee  thefe  hafty  innovators  erecting  public 
fchools  for  the  inftruction  of  the  poor,  of 
public  work-houfes  for  their  employment  5 
did  they  unlock  the  treafure-houfe  of  true  re- 
ligion, by  publiming  the  Bible  in  every  dialect 
of  their  dominions,  and  oblige  their  clergy  to 
read  it  with  the  fouls  committed  to  their 
charge ; — I  fhould  have  a  better  idea  of  their 
fmcerity  and  difmterefted  zeal  for  God's 
glory,  than  they  give  by  tearing  down  his 
ftatues,  or  thofe  of  his  bleffed  Virgin  Mother, 
which  Carlo  Borromaso  fet  up. 

The  folly  of  hanging  churches  with  red 
damalk  would  furely  fade  away  of  itfelf, 
among  people  of  good  fenfe  and  good  tafte ; 
who  could  not  long  be  fimple  enough  to  fup- 
pofe,  that  concealing  Greek  architecture  with 
fuch  tranfient  finery,  and  giving  to  God's 
houfe  the  air  of  a  tattered  theatre,  could  in 

*  In  the  fine  cieling  of  Palazzo  Ludovigi  at  Rome, 
the  Hours  which  furround  Aurora's  chariot  are  employed 
in  extinguifhing  the  Stars  with  their  hands. 

any 


TOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.       207 

any  wife  promote  his  fervice,  or  their  falva- 
tion.  Many  fuperftitious  and  many  unmean- 
ing ceremonies  do  die  off  every  day,  becaufe 
unsupported  by  reafon  or  religion :  Doctor 
Carpanni,  a  learned  lawyer,  told  me  but  to- 
day, that  here  in  Lombardy  they  had  a  cut- 
torn,  no  longer  ago  than  in  his  father's  time, 
of  burying  a  great  lord  or  pofleflbr  of  lands, 
with  a  ceremony  of  killing  on  his  grave  the 
favourite  horfe,  dog,  &c.  that  he  delighted  in 
when  alive  ;  a  ufage  borrowed  from  the  Ori- 
ental Pagans,  who  burn  even  the  widows  of  the 
deceafed  upon  their  funeral  pile  ;  and  among 
our  monuments  in  Weftminfter  Abbey,  fet  up 
in  the  days  of  darknefs,  I  have  minded  now 
and  then  the  hawk  and  greyhound  of  a  noble- 
man lying  in  marble  at  his  feet;  fome  of  OUT 
antiquarians  fhould  tell  us  if  they  killed 
them. 

Another  odd  affinity  ftrikes  me.  Half  a 
century  ago  there  was  an  annual  proceffion  at 
Shrewfbury,  called  by  way  of  pre-eminence 
Shrew/bury  Show ;  when  a  handlbme  young 
girl  of  about  twelve  years  old  rode  round  the 
town,  and  wiflied  profperity  to  every  trade 
aflembled  at  the  fair :  I  forget  what  elfe 
made  the  amufement  interefting  ;  but  have 
heard  my  mother  tell  of  the  particular  beauty 

of 


zoB          OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

of  fome  wench,  who  was  ever  after  called  the 
^ueen^  becaufe  (he  had  been  carried  in  triumph 
as  fuch  on  the  day  of  Shrew/bury  Show.  Now 
if  nobody  gives  a  better  derivation  of  that 
old  cuftom,  it  may  perhaps  be  found  a  dreg 
of  the  Romifh  fuperftition,  which  as  many 
years  ago,  in  various  parts  of  Italy,  prompted 
people  to  drefs  up  a  pretty  girl,  on  the  25th 
of  March,  or  other  feafon  dedicated  to  the 
Virgin,  and  carry  her  in  proceffion  about  the 
ftreets,  finging  litanies  to  her,  &c.  and  end- 
ing, in  profanenefs  of  admiration,  a  day  begun 
in  idlenefs  and  folly.  At  Rome  however  no 
fuch  indecorous  abfurdities  are  encouraged: 
we  faw  a  beautiful  figure  of  the  Madonna, 
drefled  from  a  picture  of  Guido  Rheni,  borne 
about  one  day;  but  no  human  creature  in 
the  ftreet  offered  to  kneel,  or  gave  one  the 
ilighteft  reafon  to  fay  or  fuppofe  that  me  was 
worfhipped :  fome  fweet  hymns  were  fung  in 
her  praife,  as  the  proceffion  moved  (lowly  on ; 
but  no  impropriety  could  I  difcern,  who 
watched  with  great  attention. 

It  is  time  to  have  done  with  all  this  though, 
and  go  fee  the  Ambrofian  library ;  which,  as 
far  as  I  can  judge,  is  perfectly  refpectable. 
The  Prefect's  politenefs  kindly  offered  my 
curiolity  any  thing  I  was  particularly  anxious 
9  to 


JOURNEY   THROUGH   ITALY.       209 

to  fee,  and  the  learned  Mr.  Dugati  was  ex- 
ceedingly obliging.     The  old  Virgil  preferved 
here   with  Petrarch's  marginal  notes  in  his 
own  hand- writing,  intereft  one  much  j  this 
little  narration,  evidently  written  for  his  own 
fancy  to  feed  on,  of  the  day  and  hour  he  firft 
felt  the  impreflion  of  Laura's  charms,  is  the 
bed  proof  of  his  genuine  paffion  for  that  lady, 
as  he  certainly  never  meant  for  our  infpec- 
tion  what  he  wrote  down  in  his  own  Virgil. 
Here  is  likewife  the  valuable  MS.  of  Flavius 
Jofephus  the  Jewiih  hiftorian,  a  curiofity  de- 
fervedly  admired  and  efteemed  :    it  is  kept 
with  peculiar  care  I  think^  and  is  in  high 
prefervation  :    A  Syriae  bible  too,  very  fine 
indeed,  from  which  I  underftand  they  are 
now  going  to  print  off  fome  copies.     I  have 
been  taught  by  the  fcholars  not  to  think  a 
Syriae    bible  of  the  Samaritan  text   fo  very 
rare ;  but  the  Septuagint  in  that  language  is  fo 
exceedingly  fcarce,  that  many  are  perfuaded 
this  is  the  only  one  extant ;  and  as  our  Lord, 
in  his  quotations  from  the  old  law,  ufually 
cites  that  verfion,  it  is  juftly  preferred  to  all 
others.      Leonardo  da  Vinci's  famous  folio 
preferved  in  this  library,  for  which  James  I. 
of  England  offered  three  thoufand  ducats,  an 
VOL.  II.  P  event 


OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

event  recorded  here  over  the  cheft  that  con- 
tains it  on  a  tablet  of  marble,  deferves  atten- 
tion and  reverence  :  nothing  feems  above, 
nothing  below,  the  obfervation  of  that  prodi- 
gious genius.  He  has  in  this,  and  other  volumes 
of  the  fame  curious  work,  apparently  put  down 
every  painter's  or  mathematician's  thought  that 
crofled  his  imagination.  It  is  a  Leonardiana  *, 
the  common- place  book  of  a  great  and  wife 
man  ;  nor  did  our  Britifh  fovereign  ever  with 
more  good  fenfe  evince  his  true  love  of  learn- 
ing, than  by  his  princely  offer  of  its  purchafe. 
Till  now  the  looking  at  friends,  and 
rarities,  and  telling  old  ftcries,  and  feeing 
new  fights,  &c.  has  lulled  my  confcience 
afleep^  nor  fuffered  me  to  recollect  that, 
dazzled  by  the  brightnefs  of  the  Corregios  at 
Parma,  the  account  of  their  prefs,  the  fined 
in  Europe,  and  infinitely  fuperior  to  our 
Bafkerville,  efcaped  me.  They  have  a  glo- 
rious collection  too  of  bibles  in  their  library  ; 
their  illuminations  are  moft  delicate,  and  their 

*  One  volume  of  this  Leonardiana  is  now  in  the  private 
library  of  the  king  of  England  at  the  queen's  houfe  in  the 
park,  preferved  from  Charles  or  James  the  Firft's  collec- 
tion, and  written  with  the  left  hand,  or  rather  backwards, 
to  be  read  only  with  the  help  of  a  mirror. 

bind- 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.       211 

bindings  pompous,  but  tbey  pofTefs  a  modern 
MS.  of  fuch  fingular  perfection,  that  none  of 
thofe  finifhed  when  chirography  was  more 
cultivated  than  it  is  now,  can  at  all  pretend  to 
compare  with  it.  The  characters  are  all  gilt, 
the  leaves  vellum,  the  miniatures  finifhed 
with  a  degree  of  nicety  rarely  found  in  union, 
as  here,  with  the  utmoft  elegance  and  tafte. 
No  words  I  can  ufe  will  give  a  juft  idea  of 
this  little  MS. :  whoever  is  a  true  fancier  of 
fuch  things,  would  find  his  trouble  well  repaid, 
if  he  left  London  only  to  look  at  it.  The  book 
contains  private  devotions  for  the  duchefs  with 
fuitable  ornaments — I  will  talk  no  more  of  it. 
The  fine  coloflal  figure  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  in  heaven  crowned  by  her  Son's 
hand,  painted  in  the  cieling  of  fome  church 
at  Parma,  has  a  bad  light,  and  it  is  difficult 
to  comprehend  its  fublimity.  One  ap- 
proaches nearer  to  underiland  the  merits  of 
that  fmgular  performance  when  one  looks  at 
Caracci's  copy  of  it,  kept  in  the  Ambrofiati 
library  here  at  Milan,  But  how  was  I  fur- 
prifed  to  hear  related  as  a  fadt  happening  to 
him,  the  old  ftory  told  to  all  who  go  to  fee 
St.  Paul's  cathedral  in  London,  of  our  Sir 
James  Thornhill,  who,  while  he  was  intent 
P  2  on 


*ia  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

on  painting  the  cupola,  walked  backward  to 
look  at  the  effect,  till,  arriving  at  the  very 
edge  of  the  fcaffold,  he  was  in  danger  of  dafli- 
ing  his  brains  out  by  falling  from  that  hor- 
rible height  upon  the  marble  below,  had  not 
fome  byftander  poffeffed  readinefs  of  mind  to 
run  fuddenly  forward,   and  throw  a  pencil 
daubed  in  white  fluff  which  flood  near  him, 
at  the  figure  Sir  James's  eyes  were  fixed  on, 
which  provoked  the  painter  to  follow  him 
threatening,    and  fo  faved  his   life.      Could 
fuch  an  accident  have  happened  twice  ?  and 
is  it  likely  that  to  either  of  thefe  perfons  it 
ever  happened  at  all?    Would  fuch  men  as 
Annibal  Caracci     and   Sir  James  Thornhill 
have  expofed  themfelves  upon  an  undefended 
fcaffold,   without  railing  it  round  to  prevent 
their   tumbling   down,   when  engaged  in  a 
work  that  would  take  them  many  days,  nay 
weeks,   to  finifh   it  ?     Impoflible !    in  every 
nation  traditionary  tales  fhake  my  belief  ex- 
ceedingly ;    and    what  aflonifhes   one   more 
than  it  difgufts,  if  poflible,  is  to  fee  the  fame 
flory  fitted  to  more  nations  than  one. 

It  is  now  many  years  fince  a  counfellor  re- 
lated at  my  houfe  in  Surrey  the  following  nar- 
ration, of  which  I  had  then  no  doubts,  or  idea 
4  of 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        213 

of  fufpicion ;  for  he  faid  he  was  himfelf  wit- 
nefs  to  the  fad,  and  laid  the  fcene  at|  St.  Ed- 
mondfbury,  a  town  in  our  county  of  Suffolk : 
how  a  man  accufed  of  murder,  with  every 
corroborating  circumftance,  efcaped  by  the 
fteady  refolution  of  one  juryman,  who  could 
not,  by  any  arguments  or  remonftrances  of 
his  companions,  be  prevailed  on  to  pronounce 
the  fellow  guilty,  though  every  poflible  'cir- 
cumftance  combined  to  afcertain  him  as  the 
perfon  who  took  the  deceafed's  life  ;  and  how, 
after  all  was  over,  the  juryman  confefled  pri- 
vately to  the  judge,  that  be  himfelf  \  by  fuch 
and  fuch  an  accident,  had  killed  the  farmer, 
of  whofe  death  the  other  ftood  accufed. 
This  event,  true  or  falfe,  of  which  I  have 
firice  found  the  rudiments  in  a  French  Re- 
cueil,  was  told  me  at  Venice  by  a  gentleman  as 
having  happened  there ^  under  the  immediate 
infpedtion  of  a  friend  he  named.  Quere, 
whether  any  fuch  thing  ever  happened  at  all 
in  any  time  or  place  ?  but  laxity  of  narra- 
tion, and  contempt  of  all  exa&nefs,  at 
laft  extinguifli  one's  beft-founded  «onfi- 
dence  in  the  lips  of  mortal  man.  It  is,  how- 
ever, clearly  proved,  that  no  duty  is  fo  diffi- 
cult as  to  preferve  truth  in  all  our  tranfactions, 
while  no  tranfa&ion  is  fo  trifling  as  to  pre- 
P  3  elude 


*• 
214-  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

elude  temptation  of  infringing  it :  for  if  there 
is  no  intereft  that  prompts  a  liar,  his  vanity 
fuffices ;  nor  will  we  mention  the  fuggeflions 
of  cowardice,  malignity,  or  any  fpecies  of 
vice,  when,  as  in  thefe  lafl>mentioned  ftories, 
many  fictions  are  invented  by  well-meaning 
people,  who  hope  to  prevent  mifchief,  incul- 
cate the  poffibility  of  hanging  innocence,  &c. 
and  violate  truth  out  of  regard  to  virtue. 

Well,  welt !  our  good  Italians  here  will  not 
condefcend  to  live  or  lie,  if  now  and  then  they 
fcruple  not  to  tell  one.  No  man  in  this 
country  pretends  either  to  tendernefs  or  to  in- 
difference, when  he  feels  no  difpofition  to  be 
indifferent  or  tender  j  and  fo  removed  are 
they  from  all  affectation  offenfibility  or  of  re- 
finement, that  when  a  conceited  Englimman. 
ftarts  back  in  pretended  rapture  from  a  Ra- 
phael he  has  perhaps  little  tafte  for,  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  perfuade  thefe  fmcerer  people  that  his 
tranfports  are  poffibly  put  on,  only  to  deceive 
fome  of  his  countrymen  who  ftand  by,  and 
who,  if  he  took  no  notice  of  fo  fine  a  picture, 
would  laugh,  and  fay  he  had  been  throwing 
his  time  away,  without  making  even  the  com- 
mon and  neceffary  improvements  expected 
from  every  gentleman  who  travels  through 
Italy ;  yet  furely  it  is  a  choice  delight  to 

live 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        215 

live  where  the  everlafting  fcourge  held  over 
London  and  Bath,  of  'what  will  they  think  f 
and  •what  'will  they  fay  %  has  no  exiftence  ; 
and  to  reflect  that  I  have  now  fojourned 
near  two  years  in  Italy,  and  fcarcely  can  name 
one  conceited  man,  or  one  affected  woman, 
with  whom,  in  any  rank  of  life,  J  have  been 
in  the  leaft  connected. 

In  Naples  we  fee  the  works  of  nature  dif- 
played  ;  at  Rome  and  Florence  we  furvey 
the  performances  of  art ;  at  every  place  in 
Italy  there  is  much  worthy  one's  efteem,  faid 
the  Venetian  Refident  one  day  very  elegantly ; 
and  at  Milan  there  is  the  Abate  Boffi.  Should 
I  forbear  to  add  my  teftirnony  to  fuch  talents 
and  fuch  virtue,  which,  expanded  by  nature 
to  the  wide  range  of  human  benevolence,  he 
knows  how  to  concentre  occafionally  for  the 
fervice  of  private  friendmip,  how  great  would 
be  my  ingratitude  and  neglect,  while  no 
character  ever  fo  completely  refembled  his,  as 
that  of  the  famous  Hough  well  known  in 
England  by  the  title  of  the  good  Bifhop  of 
"Worcefter.  His  ingenuity  in  compofing  and 
placing  thefe  words  on  the  I3th  of  May 
1775,  is  perhaps  one  of  his  leaft  valuable 
jeux  d'efprit  j  but  pretty,  when  one  knows 
P  4  that 


2j6  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

that  on  that  day  the  emprefs  was  born,  on 
that  day  the  archduke  arrived  at  Milan  on 
a  vifit  to  his  brother,  and  on  that  day  the 
duchefs  was  delivered  of  a  fon.  The  words 
may  be  read  our  way  or  the  Chinefe  ; 

Natalis      Adventus       Partus 
Matris       Fratris  Conjugis 

Felix          Optatus         Incolumis 
Principem  Aulam          Urbern 
LeclificabantT 

What  a  foolifh  thing  it  is  in  princes  to  give 
pain  in  a  place  like  this,  where  all  are  difpofed 
to  derive  pleafure  even  from  praifing  them ! 
There  is  a  natural  loyalty  among  the  Lom- 
bards, which  opprefllon  can  fcarcely  extinguifh, 
or  tyranny  deftroy :  and,  as  J  have  faid  a 
thoufand  times,  they  pretend  to  love  no  one  5 
they  do  love  their  rulers  ;  and,  rather  grieve 
than  growl  at  the  affli&ions  caufed  by  their 
rapacity. 

I  was  told  that  I  mould  find  few  difcrimi- 
nations  of  character  in  Italy  ;  but  the  contrary 
proves  true,  and  I  do  not  wonder  at  it.  Among 
thofe  people  who,  by  being  folded  or  driven 
all  together  in  flocks  as  the  French  are,  with 
one  fafhion  to  ferve  for  the  whole  fociety,  a 
man  may  eafily  contract  a  fimilarity  of  man- 
ners 


JOURNEY    THROUGH  ITALY.        217 

ners  by  rubbing  down  each  afperity  of  cha~ 
rafter  againft  his  neareft  neighbour,  no  lefs 
plaftic  than  himfelf ;  but  here,  where  there 
is  little  apprehenfion  of  ridicule,  and  little  fpi- 
rit  of  imitation,  monotonous  tedioufnefs  is  al* 
moft  fure  to  be  efcaped.  The  very  word  po- 
lite comes  from  poli/Jo  I  fuppofe ;  and  at  Paris 
the  place  where  you  enjoy  le  veritable  vernif 
St.  Martin  in  perfection,  the  people  can 
fcarcely  be  termed  polifhed^  or  even  varnljhed : 
they  are  glazed ;  and  every  thing  Hides  off 
the  exterieur  of  courfe,  leaving  the  heart  un- 
touched. It  is  the  fame  thing  with  other  pro- 
ductions of  nature ;  in  caverns  we  fee  petri- 
factions mooting  out  in  angular  and  excentric 
forms,  becaufe  in  Caftleton  Hole  dame  Nature 
has  fair  play ;  while  the  broad  beach  at 
Brighthelmftone,  evermore  battered  by  the  fame 
.ocean,  exhibits  only  a  heap  of  round  pebbles, 
and  thofe  round  pebbles  all  alike. 

But  WQ  muft  ceafe  reflections,  and  begin 
defcribing  againt  We  have  got  a  country 
houfe  for  the  remaining  part  of  the  hot  wea- 
ther upon  the  confines  of  the  Milanefe  do- 
minions, where  Switzerland  firft  begins  to 
bow  her  bleak  head,  and  foften  gradually  in 
the  funfhine  of  Italian  fertility.  From  every 

walk 


2i8  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

walk  and  villa  round  this  delightful  fpot,  one 
fees  an  aflemblage  of  beauties  rarely  to  be  met 
with :  and  there  is  a  refemblance  in  it  to  the 
Vale  of  Llwydd,  which  makes  it  ftill  more  in- 
terefting  to  me.  But  we  have  obtained  leave 
to  fpend  a  week  of  our  deftined  Villeggiatura 
at  the  Borromsean  palace,  fituated  in  the  mid- 
dle of  Lago  Maggiore,  on  the  ifland  fo  truly 
termed  Ifola  Bella  ;  every  ftep  to  which  from 
our  villa  at  Varefe  teems  with  new  beauties, 
and  only  wants  the  fea  to  render  it,  in  point  of 
mere  laridfcape,  fuperior  to  any  thing  we  have 
feen  yet. 

Our  manner  of  living  here  is  pofitively 
like  nothing  real,  and  the  fanciful  defcription 
of  oriental  magnificence,  with  Seged's  retire- 
ment in  the  Rambler  to  his  palace  on  the  Lake 
Dambea,  is  all  I  ever  read  that  could  come 
in  competition  with  it :  for  here  is  one  barge 
full  of  friends  from  Milan,  another  carrying 
a  complete  band  of  thirteen  of  the  beft  mufi- 
cians  in  Italy,  to  amufe  ourfelves  and  them 
with  conceits  every  evening  upon  the  water 
by  moonlight,  while  the  inhabitants  of  thefe 
elyfian  regions  who  live  upon  the  banks,  come 
down  in  crowds  to  the  fhores  glad  to  receive 
'  •  '  additional 


JOURNEY   THROUGH    ITALY.        219 

additional  delight,  where   fatiety   of  pleafure 
feems  thefole  evil  to  be  dreaded. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  wild  mountains  of 
Savoy,  the  rich  plains  of  Lombardy,  the  verdant 
paftures  of  Piedmont,  and  the  pointed  Alps 
of  Switzerland,  form  the  limits  of  Lago  Mag- 
giore  :  where,  upon  a  naked  rock,  torn  I 
truft  from  fome  furrounding  hill,  or  happily 
thrown  up  in  the  middle  of  the  water  by  a  fub- 
terranean  volcano,  the  Count  Borromseo,  in  the 
year  1613,  began  to  carry  earth  ;  and  lay  out  a 
pretty  garden,  which  from  that  day  has  been  per- 
petually improving,  till  an  appearance  of  eaftern 
grandeur  which  it  now  wears,  is  rendered  ftill 
more  charming  by  all  the  fludied  elegance  of 
art,  and  the  conveniences  of  common  life. 
The  palace  is  conftrucled  as  if  to  realife  John- 
fen's  ideas  in  his  Prince  of  Abyffinia  :  the 
garden  confifts  of  ten  terraces ;  the  walls  of 
which  are  completely  covered  with  orange, 
lemon,  and  cedrati  trees,  whofe  glowing  co- 
lours and  whofe  fragrant  fcent  are  eafily  dif- 
cerned  at  a  confiderable  diftance,  and  the  per- 
fume particularly  often  reaches  as  far  as  to  the 
oppofite  more  :  nor  are  ftandards  of  the  fame 
plants  wanting.  I  meafured  one  not  the 
largeft  in  the  grove,  which  had  been  planted 
10  one 


220  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

one  hundred  and  five  years  ;  it  was  a  full  yard 
and  a  quarter  round.  There  were  forty-fix 
of  them  fet  near  each  other,  and  formed  a  de- 
lightful {hade.  The  cedrati  fruit  grows  as 
large  as  a  late  romana  melon  with  us  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  every  thing  one  fees,  and  every 
thing  one  hears,  and  every  thing  one  taftes, 
brings  to  one's  mind  the  fortunate  iflands  and 
the  golden  age.  Walks,  woods,  and  terraces 
'within  the  ifland,  and  a  profpecl:  of  une- 
qualled variety  without^  make  this  a  kind  of 
fairy  habitation,  fo  like  fomething  one  has 
feen  reprefented  on  theatres,  that  my  female 
companion  crie$  out  as  we  approached  the 
place,  "  If  we  go  any  nearer  now,  I  am  fure 
it  will  all  yanifti  into  air,"  There  is  folidity 
enough  however  :  a  little  village  confiding  of 
eighteen  fifhermen's  hqufes,  and  a  pretty 
church,  with  a  dozen  of  well-grown  poplars 
before  it,  together  with  the  palace  and  gar- 
den, compofe  the  territory,  which  commodi- 
oufly  contains  two  hundred  and  fifty  fouls, 
as  the  circuit  is  fomewhat  more  than  a  mea- 
fured  mile  and  a  half,  but  not  two  miles  in 
all :  and  we  have  cannons  to  guard  our  Calypfo- 
like  dominion,  for  which  Count  Borromseo 
pays  tribute  to  the  king  of  Sardinia ;  but  has 

himfelf 


JOURNEY    THROUGH  ITALY.        2lt 

himfelf  the  right  of  raifmg   men   upon  the 
main  land,  and  of  coining  money  at  Macau , 
a  little  town  amid  the  hollows  of  thefe  rocks, 
which    prefent  their   irregular    fronts  to  the 
lake  in  a  manner  furprifmgly  beautiful.     He 
has  three  other  iflets  on  the  fame  water,  for 
change  of  amufement ;  of  which  that  named 
la  Superiore  is  covered   with  a   hamlet,  and 
Tlfola  Madre  with  a  wood  full  of  game,  gui- 
nea fowl,  and  common  poultry ;  a  fummer- 
houfe  befide  furnifhed  with  chintz,  and  con- 
taining fo  many  apartments,  that  I  am  told 
the  uncle  of  the  prefent  pofleflbr,  having  quar- 
relled  with     his   wife,    and    refolving  in   a 
pet  to  leave  the  world,    fhut  himfelf  up  on 
that  little  fpot   of  earth,  and   never  touched 
the  continent,  as   I  may  call  it,  for  the  laft 
feventeen  years  of  his  life.     Let  me  add,  that 
he   had  there   his  church  and  his  chaplain, 
three  mufical  profeflbrs  in  conftant  pay,  and 
a  pretty  yatcht  to  row  or  fail,  and  fetch  in 
friends,  phyficians,  &c.  from  the  main  land. 
His  nephew  has  not   the  fame   tafte   at  all, 
feldom  fpending  more  than  a  week,  and  that 
only  once  a-year,  among  his  iflands,  which  are 
kept  however  quite  in  a  princely  ftyle :  the 
family  creft,  a  unicorn,  mads  in  white  mar- 

ble, 


222  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

ble,  and  of  coloflal  greatnefs,  proudly  over- 
looking ten  broad  terraces  which  rife  in  a  py- 
ramidal form  from  the  water :  each  wall 
richly  covered  with  orange  and  lemon  trees, 
and  every  parapet  concealed  under  thickly- 
flowering  fhrubs  of  inceffant  variety,  as  if 
every  climate  had  been  culled,  to  adorn  this 
tiny  fpot.  More  than  a  hundred  beds  are 
made  in  the  palace,  which  has  likewife  a  grotto 
floor  of  infinite  ingenuity,  and  beautiful  from 
being  happily  contrafted  againft  the  general 
fplendour  of  the  houfe  itfelf.  I  have  feen 
no  fuch  effort  of  what  we  call  tafte  fince  I  left 
England,  as  thefe  apartments  on  a  level  with 
the  lake  exhibit,  being  all  roofed  and  wain- 
fcotted  with  well-difpofed  fhellwork,  and  de- 
corated with  fountains  in  a  lively  and  pleaf- 
ing  manner.  The  library  up  ftairs  had  ma- 
ny curious  books  in  it — a  Camden's  Britannia 
particularly,  tranflated  into  Spanifh  ;  an  Ara- 
bic Bible  worthy  of  the  Bodleian  collection, 
and  well-chofen  volumes  of  natural  hiftory  to 
a  very  ferious  degree  of  expence.  Painting 
is  not  the  firft  or  fecond  boaft  of  Count  Bor- 
romseo,  but  there  are  fome  tolerable  land- 
fcapes  by  Tempefta,  and  three  famous  pic- 
tures of  Luca  Giordano,  well  known  in  Lon- 
don 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.         2*3 

don  by  the  general  diffufion  of  their  prints, 
reprefenting  the  Rape  of  the  Sabines,  the 
Judgment  of  Paris,  and  the  Triumph  of  Ga- 
latea. Thefe  large  hiftory  pieces  adorn  the 
walls  of  the  vaft  room  we  dine  in  ;  where, 
though  we  never  fit  down  fewer  than  twenty 
or  twenty-five  people  to  table,  all  feem  loft 
from  the  greatnefs  of  its  fize,  till  the  conceit 
fills  it  in  the  evening. 

It  is  the  garden  however  more  than  the  pa- 
lace which  deferves  defcription.  He  who  has 
the  care  of  it  was  born  upon  the  ifland,  and 
never  ftrayed  further  than  four  miles,  he  tells 
me,  from  the  borders  of  his  matter's  lake. 
Sure  he  muft  think  the  fall  of  man  a  fable  : 
be  lives  in  Eden  ftill.  How  much  muft  fuch 
a  fellow  be  confounded,  could  he  be  carried 
blind-folded  in  the  midft  of  winter  to  London 
or  to  Paris  !  and  fet  down  in  Fleet-ftreet  or 
Rue  St.  Honore !  That  he  underftands  his 
bufmefs  fo  as  to  need  no  tuition  from  the  in- 
habitants of  either  city,  may  be  feen  by  a  fig- 
tree  which  I  found  here  ingrafted  on  a  lemon  ; 
both  bear  fruit  at  the  fame  moment,  whilft  a 
vine  curls  up  the  ftem  of  the  lemon-tree, 
dangling  her  grapes  in  that  delicious  com- 
pany with  apparent  fatisfaftion  to  herfelf. 

Another 


*24  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Another  inoculation  of  a  mofs-rofe  upon  arf 
orange,  and  a  third  of  a  carnation  upon  a  ce- 
drati  tree,  gave  me  riew  knowledge  of  what 
the  gardener's  art,  aided  by  a  happy  climate, 
could  perform.  But  when  rowing  round  the 
lake  with  our  band  of  mulic  yefterday,  we 
touched  at  a  country  feat  upon  the  fide  which 
joins  the  Milanefe  dominion,  and  I  found 
myielf  preiented  with  currants  and  goofeber- 
ries  by  a  kind  family,  who  having  made  their 
fortune  in  Amfterdam,  had  imbibed  fome 
Dutch  ideas  5  my  mind  immediately  felt  her 
elaftie  force,  and  willingly  confefled  that  li- 
berty, fecurity,  and  opulence  alone  give  the 
true  relifli  to  productions  either  of  art  or  na- 
ture ;  that  freedom  can  make  the  currants  of 
Holland  and  golden  pippins  of  Great  Britain 
fweeter  than  all  the  grapes  of  Italy  ;  while  to 
every  manly  underftanding  fome  fhare  of  the 
government  in  a  well-regulated  ftate,  with  the 
every-day  comforts  of  common  life  made  du- 
rable and  certain  by  the  laws  of  a  profperous 
country,  are  at  laft  far  preferable  to  fplendid 
luxuries  precarioufly  enjoyed  under  the  con- 
fcioufnefs  of  their  poflible  privation  when  leaft 
expected  by  the  hand  of  defpotic  power. 


St. 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.         225 

St.  Carlo  Borromaeo'scoloflal  ftatue  in  bronze 
fixed  up  at  the  place  of  his  nativity  by  the 
fide  of  this  beautiful  water,  fifteen  miles  from 
Tlfola  Bella,  was  our  next  object  of  curiofity. 
It  is  wonderfully  well  proportioned  for  its 
prodigious  magnitude,  which,  though  often 
meafured  and  well  known,  will  never  ceafe 
to  aftonim  travellers,  while  twelve  men  can 
be  eafily  contained  in  his  head  only,  as  fome 
of  our  company  had  the  curiofity  to  prove  ; 
but  repented  their  frolic,  as  the  metal  heated 
by  fuch  a  fun  became  infupportable.  Abate 
Bianconi  bid  me  remark  that  it  was  juft  the 
height  of  twelve  men,  each  fix  feet  high ; 
that  it  is  but  juft  once  and  a  half  lefs  than 
that  erected  by  Nero,  which  gives  name  to 
the  Roman  Coloffeo ;  that  it  is  to  be  feen 
clearly  at  the  diftance  of  twelve  miles,  though 
placed  to  no  advantage,  as  fituation  has  been 
facrificed  to  the  greater  propriety  of  fetting  it 
up  upon  the  place  where  he  was  actually 
born,  whofe  memory  they  hold,  and  juftly,  in 
fuch  perfect  veneration.  I  returned  home  per- 
fuaded  that  the  cardinal's  drefs,  though  an  unfa- 
vourable one  to  pictures,  is  very  happily  adapt- 
ed to  a  coloflal  ftatue,  as  the  three  cloaks  or 

VOL.  II.  Q^  petti- 


226  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

petticoats  made  a  fort  of  ftep-ladder  drapery 
which  takes  off  exceedingly  from  the  offence 
that  is  given  by  too  long  lines  to  the  eye. 

We  returned  to  our  enchanted  palace  with 
mufic  playing  by  our  fide  :  I  never  faw  a 
party  of  pleafure  carried  on  fo  happily.  The 
weather  was  fmgularly  bright  and  clear,  the 
moon  at  full,  the  French-horns  breaking  the 
lilence  of  the  night,  invited  echo  to  anfwer 
them.  The  nine  days  (and  we  enjoyed  feven- 
teen  or  eighteen  hours  out  of  every  twenty- 
four)  feemed  nine  minutes.  When  we  came 
home  to  our  country-houfe  in  the  Varefotto, 
verfes  and  fonnets  faluted  our  arrival,  and 
congratulated  our  wedding-day. 

The  Madonna  del  Monte  was  the  next 
fliow  which  called  us  abroad  ;  it  is  within  a 
few  miles  of  our  prefent  fweet  habitation,  is 
celebrated  for  its  profped,  and  is  indeed  a 
very  aftonifhing  fpot  of  ground,  exhibiting  at 
one  view  the  three  cities  of  Turin,  Milan,  and 
Genoa  ;  and  leading  the  eye  ftill  forward  into 
the  South  of  France.  The  lakes,  which  to 
thofe  who  go  o'pleafuring  upon  them,  feem 
like  feas,  and  very  like  the  mouth  of  our  river 
Dart,  where  (he  difgorges  her  elegantly-or- 
namented ftream  into  the  harbour  at  Kingf- 

weare> 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY;        227 

•wieare,  here  afford  too  little  water  in  propor- 
tion, though  five  in  number,  and  the  largeft 
fifty  miles  round.  I  fcarcely  ever  faw  fo  much 
land  within  the  eye  from  any  place.  That 
the  road  ftiould  be  adorned  with  chapels  up 
the  mountain  is  lefs  ftrange  :  there  is  a  church 
dedicated  to  the  Virgin  at  top.  We  have 
one  here  in  Italy  in  every  diftric~l  almoft,  as 
the  rage  of  ivorfbipping  on  high  places^  fo  ex- 
prefsly  and  repeatedly  forbidden  in  fcripture* 
has  lafted  furprifmgly  in  the  world.  Every 
refting-place  is  marked,  and  decorated  with 
ftatues  cut  in  wood,  and  painted  to  imitate 
human  life  with  very  extraordinary  (kill* 
They  are  capital  performances  of  their  kind* 
and  moft  referable,  but  I  think  excel,  Mrs' 
Wright's  fined  figures  in  wax.  A  convent 
of  nuns,  fituated  on  the  fummit  of  the  hill, 
where  thefe  chapels  end  in  an  exceeding  pretty 
church,  entertained  our  large  party  with  the 
moft  hofpitable  kindnefs  :  gave  us  a  hand* 
fome  dinner  and  delicious  defTert.  We  di- 
verted the  ladies  with  a  little  concert  in  re- 
turn, and  pafled  a  truly  delightful  day. 

All  the  environs  of  this  Varefotto  are  very 
charmingly  varied  with  mountains,  lakes,  and 
cultivated  life ;  the  only  fault  in  our  profpect 

Qj*  13 


228  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

is  the  want  of  water.  Had  I  told  my  com- 
panions of  yefterday  perhaps,  that  the  view 
from  Madonna  del  Monte  reminded  me  of 
Chirk  Caftle  Hill  in  North  Wales,  they  would 
have  laughed  ;  yet  from  that  extraordinary  fpot 
are  to  be  diftin&ly  feen  feveral  fertile  counties, 
with  many  great,  and  many  fmall  towns,  and 
a  moft  extenflve  landfcape,  watered  by  the 
large  and  navigable  rivers  Severn  and  Dee, 
roughened  by  the  mountains  of  Merioneth- 
fhire,  and  bounded  by  the  Trim  fea:  I  think 
that  view  has  fcarce  its  equal  any  where ;  and, 
if  any  where,  it  is  here  in  the  vicinity  ofVa- 
refe,  where  many  gay  villas  interfperfed  con- 
tribute to  variegate  and  enliven  a  fcene  highly 
finifhed  by  the  hand  of  Nature,  and  want- 
ing little  addition  from  her  attendant  Art. 

Of  the  noblemen's  feats  in  the  neighbour- 
hood it  may  indeed  be  remarked,  that  how- 
ever fpacious  the  houfe,  and  however  fplendid 
the  furniture  may  prove  upon  examination, 
however  pompous  the  garden  may  be  to  the 
firft  glance,  and  the  terraces  however  magni- 
ficent,— Ipiders  are  feldom  excluded  from  the 
manfion,  or  weeds  from  the  pleafure-ground 
of  the  pofleflbr.  A  climate  fo  warm  would 

afford 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.         229 

afford  fome  excufe  for  this  naftinefs5  could 
one  obferve  the  inhabitants  were  difcompofed 
at  fuch  an  effect  from  a  good  caufe,  or  if  one 
could  flatter  one's  felf  that  they  themfelves 
were  hurt  at  it ;  but  when  they  gravely  dif- 
play  an  embroidered  bed  or  counterpane  wor- 
thy of  Arachne's  ringers  before  her  metamor- 
phofis,  covered  over  by  her  prefent  labours, 
who  can  forbear  laughing  ? — The  gardener  in 
two  minutes  arriving  to  aflift  you  up  flopes, 
all  flouriming  with  cat's- tail  and  poppy; 
while  your  friends  cry, — "  Here^  this  is  nature  ! 
is  if  not?  pure  nature!  —  Tuffo  naturale  Jt^ 
fecondo  Vufo  Inglefe  *." 

Well !  we  have  really  pafled  a  prodigioufly 
gay  villegiatura  here  in  this  charming  coun- 
try, where  the  fnowy  cap  of  the  gros  St.  Ber- 
nard cools  the  air,  though  at  fo  great  a  dif- 
tance  ;  and  we  have  the  pleafure  of  feeing 
Switzerland,  without  the  pain  of  feeling  its 
cold,  or  the  fatigue  of  climbing  its  gladeres: 
the  Alps  of  the  Grifons  rife  up  like  a  fortifi- 
cation behind  us  ;  the  fun  glows  hot  in  our 
rich  and  fertile  valleys,  and  throws  up  every 
vegetable  production  with  all  the  poignant 

*  All  fo  natural  and  pretty, — quite  in  the  Englifh  ftyle. 

flavour 


23o  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

flavour  that  Summer  can  beftow ;  nor  is  (hade 
wanting  from  the  walnut  and  large  chefnut 
trees,  under  which  we  often  dine,  and  fmg, 
and  play  at  tarocco^  and  hear  the  horns  and 
clarinets,  while  Tipping  our  ice  or  fwallow- 
ing  our  lemonade.  The  cicala  now  feels  the 
genial  influence  of  that  heat  fhe  requires,  but 
Jier  voice  here  is  weak,  compared  to  the 
powers  fhe  difplayed  fo  much  to  our  difturb- 
ance  in  Tufcany  ;  and  the  lucciola  has  loft 
much  of  her  fcintillant  beauty,  but  fhe  darts, 
up  and  down  the  hedges  now  and  then. 
Here  is  an  emerald-coloured  butterfly,  whofe 
name  I  know  not,  plays  over  the  lakes  and 
{landing  pools,  in  a  very  pleafmg  abundance \ 
the  mofl  exquiiitely-tinted  ephemera  frolic 
before  one  all  day  long ;  and  Antiope  flutters 
in  every  parterre,  and  fhares  the  garden  fvveets 
with  a  pale  primrofe-coloured  creature  of  her 
own  kind,  whofe  wings  are  edged  with 
-brown,  and,  if  I  can  remember  right,  bears 
the  name  of  byale.  But  we  are  not  yet  paft 
the  refidence  of  fcorpions,  which  certainly 
do  commit  fuicide  when  provoked  beyond  all 
endurance ;  a  ftory  I  had  always  heard,  but 
never  gave  much  credit  to, 

But 


JOURNEY  THROUH  ITALY.  231 

But  I  am  difturbed  from  writing  my  book 
by  the  good-humoured  gaiety  of  our  cheerful 
friends,  with  whom  we  never  fit  down  fewer 
than  fourteen  or  fifteen  to  table  I  think,  and 
furely  never  rife  from  it  without  many  a  ge- 
nuine burft  of  honeft  merriment  undifguifed 
by  affectation,  unfettered  by  reilraint.  Our 
gentlemen  make  improvifo  rhymes,  and  cut 
comical  faces ;  go  out  to  the  field  after  dinner, 
and  play  at  a  fort  of  blindman's  buff,  which 
they  call  breaking  the  pan  ;  nor  do  the  low 
ones  in  company  arrange  their  minds  as  I  fee 
in  compliment  to  the  high  ones,  but  tell  their 
opinions  with  a  freedom  I  little  expected  to 
find  :  mixed  fociety  is  very  rare  among  them, 
almoft  unknown  it  feems ;  but  when  they  do 
mix  at  a  country  place  like  this,  the  great  are 
kind,  to  do  them  juftice,  and  the  little  not  fer- 
vile.  They  are  wife  indeed  in  making  fociety 
eafy  to  them,  for  no  human  being  fuffers  fo- 
litude  fo  ill  as  does  an  Italian.  An  Englifh  lady 
once  made  me  obferve,  that  a  cat  never  purs 
when  fhe  is  alone,  let  her  have  what  meat  and 
warmth  fhe  will ;  I  think  thefe  focial-fpirited 
Milanefe  are  like  hcr^  for  they  can  hardly 
believe  that  there  is  exifting  a  perfon,  who 

would 


232  OBSERVATIONS   IN   A 

would  not  willingly  prefer  any  company  to 
none  :  when  we  were  at  the  iflands  three 
weeks  ago, — "  A  charming  place,"  fays  one 
of  our  companions, — '*  do  e  con  un  mondo 
d'amicicofi*" — "But  with  one's  own  family, 
methinks,"  faid  I,  "  and  a  good  library  of 
books,  and  this  fweet  lake  to  bathe  in  :" — 
"  O !"  cried  they  all  at  once,  "  Dio  ne  Uberl  f." 
—This  is  national  character. 

Why  there  are  no  birds  of  the  watery  kind, 
coots,  wild  ducks,  cargeefe,  upon  thefe  lakes, 
nobody  informs  me:  I  have  been  often  told 
that  of  Geneva  fwarms  with  them,  and  it  is 
but  a  very  few  miles  off:  our  people  though 
have  little  care  to  afcertain  fuch  matters,  and 
no  defire  at  all  to  inveftigate  effects  and  caufes ; 
thofe  who  ftudy  among  them,  ftudy  claffic 
authors  and  learn  rhetoric ;  poetry  too  is  by 
no  means  uncultivated  at  Milan,  where  the 
Abate  Parini's  fatires  are  admirable,  and  fo 
efteemed  by  thofe  who  themfelves  know  very 
well  how  to  write,  and  how  to  judge  :  com- 
mon philofophy  (la  pbyfiquc^  as  the  French 
call  it),  geography,  aftronomy,  chymiftry,  are 

*  That  is,  with  a  heap  of  friends  about  one  in  this 
manner. 

t  Oh  !  God  keep  one  from  that. 

oddly 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.        233 

oddly  left  behind  fomehow;  and  it  is  to  their 
ignorance  of  thefe  matters  that  I  am  apt  to 
impute  Italian  credulity,  to  which  every 
wonder  is  welcome. 

We  have  now  pafTed  one  day  in  Switzer- 
land however,  rowing  to  the  little  town  Lu- 
gano over  its  pretty  lake.  The  mountains  at 
the  end  are  a  neat  miniature  of  Vefuvius, 
Somma,  &c. ;  and  the  fituation  altogether 
looks  as  a  picture  of  Naples  would  look,  if 
painted  by  Brughuel ;  but  not  fo  full  of  figures. 
A  fanciful  traveller  too  might  be  tempted  to  think 
he  could  difcern  fome  ftreaks  of  liberty  in  the 
manners  of  the  people,  if  it  were  but  in  the 
inn-keeper  at  whofe  houfe  we  dined ;  this 
may  however  be  merely  my  own  prejudice, 
and  fomebody  told  me  it  was  fo. 

We  were  {hewn  on  one  fide  the  water  as 
we  went  acrofs,  a  fmall  place  called  Campioni, 
which  \sfeudo  Imperiale,  and  governed  by  the 
Padre  Abate  of  a  neighbouring  convent,  who 
has  power  even  over  the  lives  of  his  fubjects 
for  fix  years;  at  the  expiration  of  which  term 
another  defpot  of  the  day  is  chofen — appointed 
I  mould  have  faid  ;  and  the  laft  returns  to  his 
original  ftate,  amenable  however  for  any  very 
(hocking  thing  he  may  have  done  during  the 

courfe 


234  OBSERVATIONS   IN   A 

courfe  of  his  didtatorfhip  ;  and  no  complaint 
has  been  ever  made  yet  of  any  fuch  governor 
fo  circumftanced  and  appointed,  whofe  con- 
duct is  commonly  but  too  mild  and  clement. 
This  I  thought  worth  remarking,  as  confo- 
latory  to  one's  feelings. 

Lugano  meantime  fcorns  abfolute  autho- 
rity :  our  Cicerone  there,  in  reply  to  the 
queftion  afked  in  Italy  three  times  a-day  I 
believe — Che  Principe  fa  qui  la  fua  reftdenxa*? 
— replied,  that  they  were  plagued  with  no 
Principi  at  all,  while  the  thirteen  Cantons 
protected  all  their  fubjecls ;  and  though,  as 
the  man  exprefled  it,  only  half  of  them  were 
Cbrifliansy  and  the  other  half  P rot  eft  ants;  no 
church  or  convent  had  ever  wanted  refpecT: ; 
"while  their  town  regularly  received  a  monthly 
governor  from  every  canton,  and  was  per-» 
feclly  contented  with  this  ambulatory  domi- 
nion. Here  was  the  firft  gallows  I  have  feen 
thefe  two  years.  They  have  a  pretty  com- 
merce too  at  Lugano  for  the  fize  of  the  place, 
and  the  fhopkeepers  fliew  that  officioufnefs 
and  attention  feldom  obferved  in  arbitrary 
ftates,  where 

Content,  the  bane  of  induftry, 
*  What  prince  makes  his  refidence  here  ? 

foou 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.        235 

foon  leads  people  to  neglect  the  trouble  of 
getting,  for  the  pleafure  of  fpending  their 
money.  One  therefore  fees  the  inhabitants  of 
Italian  cities  for  the  moft  part  merry  and 
cheerful,  or  elfe  pious  and  penitent ;  little  at- 
tentive to  their  mops,  but  eafily  difpofed  to 
loiter  under  their  miftrefs's  window  with  a 
guitar,  or  rove  about  the  ftreets  at  night  with 
a  pretty  girl  under  their  arm,  finging  as  they 
go,  or  fqueaking  with  a  droll  accent,  if  it  is 
the  time  for  mafquerades.  Fraud,  avarice, 
ambition,  are  the  vices  of  republican  ftates 
and  a  cold  climate;  idlenefs,  fenfuality,  and 
revenge,  are  the  weeds  of  a  warm  country 
and  monarchical  governments.  If  thefe  people 
are  not  good,  they  at  leaft  wifh  they  were 
better;  they  do  not  applaud  their  own  conduct 
when  their  paflions  carry  them  too  far;  nor 
rejoice,  like  old  Money  trap  or  Sir  Giles  Over- 
reach, in  their  fuccefsful  fins  :  but  rather  fay 
with  Racine's  hero,  tranflated  by  Philips,  that 

Pyrrhus  will  ne'er  approve  his  own  injuftice, 
Or  form  excufcs  while  his  heart  condemns  him. 

They  beat  their  bofoms  at  the  feet  of  a  crucifix  in 
the  ilreet,  with  no  more  hypocrify  than  they  beat 

a  tarn- 


23*  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

a  tambourine  there ;  perhaps  with  no  more 
effect  neither,  if  no  alteration  of  behaviour  fuc- 
ceeds  their  contrition :  yet  when  an  Englifh- 
man  (who  is  probably  more  afhamed  of  re- 
penting than  of  finning)  accufes  them  of  falfc 
pretenfions  to  pious  fervour,  he  wrongs  them, 
and  would  do  well  to  repent  himfelf, 

But  a  natural  curiofity  feen  at  Milan  this 
1 6th  day  of  Auguft    1786,  leads  my  mind 
into  another  channel.     I  went  to  wait  upon 
and  thank  the  lady,  or  the  relations  of  the 
lady,  who  lent  us  her  houfe  at  Varefe,  and 
make  our  proper  acknowledgments ;  and  at 
that   vifit    faw    fomething   very   uncommon 
furely :  though  I  remember  Doctor  Johnfon 
once  faid,  that  nobody  had  ever  feen  a  very 
ftrange  thing;  and  challenged  the  company 
(about  feventeen  people,  myfelf  among  them) 
to  produce  a  ftrange  thing  ; — but  I  had   not 
then  feen  Avvocato   B — ,   a  la  wyerhere  at 
Milan,  and  a  man  refpected  in  his  profeffioq, 
•who  actually  chews    the  cud  like    an   ox; 
which  he  did  at  my  requeft,  and  ;n  my  pre- 
fence  :  he  is  apparently  much  like  another  tall 
ftout  man,  but  has  many  extraordinary  pro- 
perties, being  eminent  for  ftrength,  and  pof- 
6  feffing 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.         237 

feflmg  a  fet  of  ribs  and  fternum  very  furprif-- 
ing,  and  worthy  the  attention  of  anatomifts  : 
his  body,  upon  the  ilighteft  touch,  even 
through  all  his  clothes,  throws  out  electric 
fparks ;  he  can  reject  his  meals  from  his  fto- 
mach  at  pleafure,  and  did  abfolutely  in  the 
courfe  of  two  hours,  the  only  two  I  ever  pafled 
in  his  company,  go  through,  to  oblige  me, 
the  whole  operation  of  eating,  mafticating, 
fwallowing,  and  returning  by  the  mouth,  a 
large  piece  of  bread  and  a  peach.  With  all 
this  conviction,  nothing  more  was  wanting  ; 
but  I  obtained  befide,  the  confirmation  of  com- 
mon friends,  who  were  willing  likewife  to 
bear  teftimony  of  this  ftrange  accidental  va- 
riety. What  I  hear  of  his  character  is,  that 
he  is  a  low-fpirited,  nervous  man;  and  I  fup- 
pofe  his  ruminating  moments  are  fpent  in 
lamenting  the  fmgularities  of  his  frame : — be 
this  how  it  will,  we  have  now  no  time  to 
think  any  more  of  them,  as  we  are  packing 
up  for  a  trip  to  Bergamo,  a  city  I  have  not 
yet  feen. 


238  OBSERVATIONS   IN   A 


BERGAMO 

Is  built    up  a  fteep  hill,    like  Lanfdowri 
road  at  Bath ;  the  buildings  not  fo  regular ; 
the  profped  not  inferior,   but  of  a  different 
kind,  refembling  that  one  fees  from  Wrotham 
hill   in  Kent,   but  richer,   and  prefenting  a 
variety   beyond  credibility,   when  it  is  pre- 
mifed  that  fcarce  any  water  can  be  feen,   and 
that  the  plains  of  Lombardy  are  low  and  flat : 
within  the  eye  however  one  may  count  all 
the  original   bleffings    beftowed  on  human- 
kind,— corn,  wine,  oil,  and  fruit ; — the  in- 
clofures  being  fmall  too,  and  the  trees  toujfu, 
as  the  French  call  it.     No  parterre  was  ever 
more  beautifuly  difpofed  than  are  the  fields 
furveyed  from  the  fummit  of  the  hill,  where 
ftands  the  Marquis's    palace  elegantly  fhel- 
tered  by  a  ftill  higher  rifing  ground  behind 
it,  and  commanding  from  every  window  of 
its  ftately  front  a  view  of  prodigious  extent 
and  almoft  unmatched  beauty :  as  the  diver- 
fification  of  colouring  reminds  one  of  nothing 

but 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.         339 

but  the  fine  pavement  at  the  Roman  Pan- 
theon, fo  curiouily  interfered  are  the  patches 
of  grafs  and  grain,  flax  and  vines,  arable  and 
tilth,  in  this  happy  difpofition  of  earth  and 
its  moft  valuable  produds  ;  while  not  a  hedge 
fails  to  afford  perfume  that  fills  the  very  air 
with  fragrance,  from  the  fweet  jeflamme  that, 
twifting  through  it,  lends  a  weak  fupport  to 
the  wild  grapes,  which,  dangling  in  cluflers, 
invite  ten  thoufand  birds  of  every  European 
fpecies  I  believe  below  the  fize  of  a  pigeon. 
Nor  is  the  taking  of  thefe  creatures  by  the 
rocco/o  to  be  left  out  from  among  the  amufe- 
ments  of  Brefcian  and  Bergamafc  nobility; 
nor  is  the  eating  of  them  when  taken  to  be 
defpifed:  beccaficos  and  ortolans  are  here  in 
jhigh  perfection  ;  and  it  was  from  thefe 
northern  diftricls  of  Italy  I  truft  that  Vitellius, 
and  all  the  clafTic  gluttons  of  antiquity,  got 
their  curious  difhes  of  fmging-bird  pye,  &c. 
The  rich  fcent  of  melons  at  every  cottage  door 
is  another  delicious  proof  of  the  climate's  fer- 
tility and  opulence, — 

Where  every  fenfe  is  loft  in  every  joy, 

as  Hughes  exprefles  it ;    and  where,  in  the  de- 
lightful villa  of  our  highly  accomplifhed  ac- 
13  quaintance 


240  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

quaintance  the  Marquis  of  Aracieli,  we  have  patt- 
ed ten  days  in  all  the  pleafures  which  wit  could 
invent,  money  purchafe,  or  friendfhip  beftow. 
The  laft  nobleman  who  refided  here,  father  to 
the  prefent  lord,  was  cavalierfervente  to  the  im- 
mortal Clelia  Borromseo,  whofe  virtues  and 
varieties  of  excellence  would  fill  a  volume ; 
nor  can  there  be  a  ftronger  proof  of  her  un^ 
common,  almoft  unequalled  merit,  than  the 
long-continued  efteem  of  the  famous  Vallif- 
nieri,  whofe  writings  on  natural  hiftory,  par- 
ticularly infeds,  are  valued  for  their  learning, 
as  their  author  was  refpe&ed  for  his  birth  and 
talents.  Letters  from  him  are  ftill  preferred 
in  the  family  by  Marchefe  Aracieli,  and  breathe 
admiration  of  the  conduct,  beauty,  and  exten- 
five  knowledge  poflefled  by  this  worthy  de- 
fcendant  of  the  Borromsean  houfe  ;  to  whofe 
incomparable  qualities  his  father's  fteady  at- 
tachment bore  the  trueft  teftimony,  while  the 
fon  ftill  fpeaks  of  her  death  with  tears,  and 
delights  in  nothing  more  than  in  paying  juft 
tribute  to  her  memory.  He  {hewed  me  this 
pretty  diftich  in  her  praife,  made  improvifo 
by  the  celebrated  philoibpher  Vallimieri : 

Coutemptrix 


JOURNEY   THROUGH  ITALY.        241 

Contemptrix  fexus,  omnifcia  Clella  fexum, 
Illuftrat  ftudio,  moribus,  arte  metro  *. 

The  Italians  are  exceedingly  happy  in  the 
power  of  making  verfes  improvifo,  either  in 
their  old  or  their  new  language:  we  were 
fpeaking  the  other  day  of  the  famous  epigram 
in  Aufonius ; 

Infelix  Dido,  null!  bene  nupta  marito. 
Hoc  moriente  fugis,  hoc  fugiente  peris  f . 

Our  equally  noble  and  ingenious  mafter  of  the 
houfe  rendered  it  in  Italian  thus  immediately : 

Mifera  Dido !  fra  i  nuziali  ardori, 

L'tm  muore  e  fuggi — 1'altro  fuggi  e  mori. 

This  is  more  comprefled  and  clever  than  that 
of  Guarini  himfdfl  think, 

Oh  fortunata  Dido! 

Mai  fornita  d'amante  e  di  marito, 

Ti  fu  qucl  traditor,  Taltro  traditoj 

Mori  1'uno  e  fuggifti, 

Fuggi  1'altro  e  morifti. 


*  Her  ftudies,  manners,  arts,  to  all  proclaim 
Fair  Clelia's  glory,  and  her  fex's  fhame. 

\  Two  lords  in  vain  unlucky  Dido  tries  ; 

One  dead,  (he  flies  the  land  j  one  fled— {he  dies. 

VOL.  II.  R  Though 


24*  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Though  this  latter  has  been  preferred  with 
many  deferved  eulogiums  from  Crefcembini* 
and  likewife  by  Mr.  de  Chevreau. 

Could  I  clear  my  head  of  prejudice  for  fuch 
talents  as  I  find  here,  and  my  heart  of  partial 
regard,  which  is  in  reality  but  grateful  friend- 
fhip,  juflly  due  from  me  for  fo  many  favours 
received  ;  could  I  forget  that  we  are  now  once 
more  in  the  ftate  of  Venice,  where  every  thing 
aflumes  an  air  of  cheerfulnefs  unknown  to 
other  places,  I  might  perhaps  perceive  that  the 
fair  at  Bergamo  differs  little  from  a  fair  in 
England,  except  that  thefe  cattle  are  whiter 
and  ours  larger.  How  a  fcore  of  good  ewes 
now  ?  as  Mafter  Shallow  fays ;  but  I  really 
did  afk  the  price  of  a  pair  of  good  ftrorig 
oxen  for  work,  and  heard  it  was  ten  zecchines ; 
about  half  the  price  given  at  Blackwater,  but 
ours  are  ftouter,  and  capable  of  rougher  fervice. 
It  is  ftrange  to  me  where  thefe  creatures  are 
kept  all  the  reft  of  the  year,  for  except  at  fair 
time  one  very  feldom  fees  them,  unlefs  in 
actual  employment  of  carting,  ploughing,  &c. 
Nothing  is  fo  little  animated  by  the  fight  of 
living  creatures  as  an  Italian  profpeft.  No 
Iheep  upon  their  hills,  no  cattle  grazing  in  their 
meadows,  no  water-fowl,  fwans,  ducks,  &c. 

upon 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.        243 

upon  their  lakes ;  and  when  you  leave  Lorn* 
bardy,  no  birds  flying  in  the  air,  fave  only  from 
time  to  time  betwixt  Florence  and  Bologna,  a 
folitary  kite  foaring  over  the  furly  Appenines, 
and  breaking  the  immenfe  void  which  fatigues 
the  eye  ;  a  ragged  lad  or  wench  too  now  and 
then  leading  a  lean  cow  to  pick  among  the 
hedges,  has  a  melancholy  appearance,  the  more 
fo  as  it  is  always  faft  held  by  a  firing,  and 
flruggles  in  vain  to  get  loofe.  Thefe  however 
are  only  confequences  of  luxuriant  plenty,  for 
where  the  farmer  makes  four  harvefts  of  his 
grafs,  and  every  other  fpeck  of  ground  is  pro- 
fitably covered  with  grain,  vines,  &c.  all  pofli- 
bility  of  open  pafturage  is  precluded.  Horfes 
too,  fo  ornamental  in  an  Englifh  landfcape, 
.will  never  be  feen  loofe  in  an  Italian  one,  as 
they  are  all  cbevaux  carters,  and  cannot  be 
trufted  in  troops  together  as  ours  are,  even 
if  there  was  ground  uninclofed  for  them 
to  graze  on,  like  the  common  lands  in  Great 
Britain.  A  nobleman's  park  is  another  object 
never  to  be  fcen  or  expeded  in  a  country, 
where  people  would  really  be  deferving  much 
blame  did  they  retain  in  their  hands  for  mere 
amufement  ten  or  twelve  miles  circuit  of  earth, 
capable  to  produce  two  or  three  thoufand 
R  2  pound* 


24*  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

pounds  a-year  profit  to  their  families,  befide 
making  many  tenants  rich  and  happy  in  the 
mean  time.  I  will  confefs,  however,  that  the 
abfence  of  all  thefe  agremens  gives  a  flatnefs 
and  uniformity  to  the  views  which  we  cannot 
complain  of  in  England  ;  but  when  Italians 
confider  the  caufe,  they  will  have  reafon  to  be 
iatisfied  with  the  effect,  efpecially  while  vege- 
table nature  flourimes  in  full  perfection,  while 
every ftep  crufhes out  perfume  from  thetrodden 
herbs,  and  thofe  in  the  hedges  difpenfe  with 
delightful  .liberality  a  fragrance  that  enchants 
one.  Hops  and  pyracantha  cover  the  fides 
of  every  cottage  ;  and  the  fcent  of  truffles  at- 
tracts, and  the  odour  of  melons  gratifies  one's 
nerves,  when  driving  among  the  habitations 
of  fertile  Lombard y. 

The  old  church  here  of  mingled  Gothic 
and  Grecian  architecture  pleafed  me  exceed- 
ingly, it  fends  one  back  to  old  times  fo,  and 
mews  one  the  progrefs  of  barbarifm^  rapid  and 
gigantic  in  its  ftrides,  to  overturn,  confound, 
and  {leftroy  what  tafte  was  left  in  the  world 
at  the  moment  of  its  otifet.  Here  is  a  picture 
of  the  Ifraelites  pafling  over  the  Red  Sea, 
which  Luca  Giordano,  contrary  to  his  ufual 
cuftom,  feems  to  have  taken  pains  with,  a 

rarity 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        245 

rarity  of  courfe;  and  here  are  fome  fingle 
figures  of  the  prophets,  heroes,  and  judges  of 
the  Old  Teftament,  painted  with  prodigious 
fpirit  indeed,  by  Giro  Ferri.  That  which 
firuck  me  as  moft  capital,  was  Gideon  wring- 
ing the  dew  out  of  the  fleece,  full  of  character 
and  glowing  with  expreflion. 

The  theatre  has  fallen  down,  but  they  are 
building  it  up  again  with  a  nicety  of  propor- 
tion that  will  enfure  it  from  falling  any  more. 
Italians  cannot  live  without  a  theatre  ;  they 
have  erected  a  temporary  one  to  ferve  during 
the  fair  time,  and  even  that  is  beautiful.  The 
Terzetto  of  charming  Guglielmi  was  fung  laft 
night ;  I  liked  it  ftill  better  than  when  we 
heard  it  performed  by  fingers  of  more  efta- 
blifhed  reputation  at  St.  Carlo  ;  but  then  .1 
like  every  thing  at  Bergamo,  till  it  comes  to 
the  thunder  florms,  which  are  far  more  in- 
noxious here  than  at  Naples  or  in  Tufcany. 

We  could  contemplate  electricity  from  this 
fine  hill  yeflerday  with  great  compofure,  being 
amufed  with  her  caprices  and  not  endangered 
by  her  anger.  There  has  however  been  a 
fierce  tempeft  in  the  neighbourhood,  which 
has  greatly  lowered  the  fpirits  of  the  farmer ; 
and  we  have  been  told  another  tale,  that  lowers 
R  3  mine 


246  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

mine  much  more  as  an  Englifliwoman,  becaufe 
the  people  of  this  town  complain  of  ftrange 
failure  in  their  accuftoined  orders  for  filk  from 
England,  and  the  foreigners  make  difgraceful 
conjectures  about  our  commerce,  in  confe- 
quence  of  that  failure. 

Here  is  a  report  prevailing  too,  of  King 
George  III.  being  aflaflinated,  which,  though 
we  all  know  to  be  falfe,  fails  not  to  produce 
much  impleafmg  talk.  Were  the  Londoners 
aware  of  the  diffufion  of  their  newfpapers,  and 
the  ftrange  ideas  taken  up  by  foreigners  about 
things  which  pafs  by  us  like  a  day  dream,  I 
think  more  caution  would  be  ufed,  and  cha- 
racters lefs  lightly  hung  up  to  infamy  or  ridi- 
cule, on  which  thofe  very  prints  mean  not  to 
beftow  fo  lading  or  fevere  a  punimment,  as 
their  ill  word  produces  at  a  difbnce  from 
home,  whither  the  contradiction  often  miffes 
though  the  report  arrives,  and  mifchief,  origi- 
nally little  intended,  becomes  the  fatal  confe- 
quence  of  a  joke.  But  it  is  time  to  return  to 


MILAN, 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.        247 


MILAN, 


WHENCE  I  went  for  my  very  firft  airing 
to  Cafa  Simonetti,   in  fearch  of  the   echo  fo 
celebrated  by  my  country-folks  and  fellow- 
travellers,  but  did   not  find  all  that  has  been 
faid  of  it  ftrictly  true.     It  certainly  does  re- 
peat a  fmgle  found  more  than  feverity  times, 
but  has  no  power  to  give  back  by  reverbera- 
tion a  whole  fentence.     I  have  met  too  with 
another  .  petty    mortification;    having    been 
taught  by  Cave  to  expect,  that  in  our  Am- 
brofian  library  here  at  Milan,  there   was  a 
MS.  of  Boethius  preferved  relative  to  his  con- 
demnation, and  confeffing  his  defign  of  fub- 
verting  the  Gothic  government  in  Lombardy. 
I  therefore  prevailed  on  Canonico  Palazzi,   a 
learned  old  ecclefiaftic,  to  go  with  me  and  beg 
a  fight  of  it.     The  prefect  politely  prdmifed 
indulgence,  but  referred  me  to  a  future  day ; 
and  when  we  returned  again  at  the  time  ap- 
pointed, mewed  me  only  Pere  Mabillon's  book, 
in  which  we  read  that  it  is  to  be  found  no 
II  4  wher* 


248  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

where  but  at  Florence,  in  the  library  of  Lo- 
renzo de  Medicis.  We  were  however  (hewn 
fome  curiofities  to  compenfate  our  trouble,  par- 
ticularly the  fkeleton  of  the  lady  mentioned  by 
Dr.  Moore  and  Lady  Millar  with  fome  con- 
tempt. This  is  the  copy  of  her  infcription  : 

^EGROTANTIUM 
SANITATI 
MORTUORUM 
INSPECTIONS 

VIVENTES 

PROSPICERE 

POSSINT 

HUNC 

2KEAETON 

P. 

A  MS.  of  the  Confolations  of  Philofophy, 
very  finely  written  in  the  tenth  century,  and 
kept  in  elegant  prefervation  ; — a  private  com- 
mon-place of  Leonardo  da  Vinci  never  fhewn, 
full  of  private  memoir?,  caricaturas,  hints  for. 
pictures,  {ketches,  remarks,  &c. ;  it  is  inva- 
luable. But  there  is  another  treafure  in  this 
town,  the  prasfed  tells  me,  by  the  fame  ini- 
mitable matter,  no  other  than  an  alphabet, 
pater  nofter,  &c.  written  out  by  himfelf  for 
the  ufe  of  his  own  little  babies,  and  ornament- 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.       343 

»>d  with  vignettes,  &c.  to  tempt  them  to  ftudy 
it.  I  fhall  not  fee  it  however,  as  Conte  Tri-r 
vulci  is  out  of  town,  to  whom  it  belongs.  I 
have  not  neglected  to  go  fee  the  monument 
erected  to  one  of  his  family,  with  the  famous 
inlcription, 

Hie  quiefcit  qui  nuncjuam  quievit; 

preferved  by  father  Bouhours.  The  fame 
day  fhewed  me  the  remains  of  a  temple  to 
Hercules,  with  many  of  the  fine  old  pillars 
ftili  Handing.  They  are  foon  to  be  taken 
down  we  hear  for  the  purpofe  of  widening 
the  ilreet,  as  Carfax  was  at  Oxford. 

My  bunger  after  a  journey  to  Pavia  is  much 
abated;  fince  profeflbr  Villa,  whofe  erudition 
is  well  known,  and  whole  works  do  him  fo 
much  honour,  informed  me  that  the  infcrip- 
tion  faid  by  Pere  Mabillon  ftill  to  fubfift  in 
praife  of  Boethius,  is  long  fince  perifhed  by 
time  ;  nor  do  they  now  mew  the  brick  tower 
in  which  it  is  faid  he  was  confined  while  he 
wrote  his  Coniblations  of  Philofophy  ;  for  the 
tower  is  fallen  to  the  ground,  and  fo  is  the 
report,  every  body  being  now  perfuaded  that 
they  were  compofed  in  a  ftrong  place  then 
{landing  upon  the  fpot  called  Calventiaaus 
7 


25o  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Ager,  from  the  name  of  a  noble  houfe  to 
which  it  had  belonged  for  ages,  and  which  I 
am  told  Cicero  mentions  as  a  family  half 
Placentian,  half  Milaneze.  The  field  ftill 
goes  by  the  name  of  //  Campo  Galven-zlano  ; 
but,  as  it  now  belongs  to  people  carelefs  of 
remote  events,  however  interefting  to  litera- 
ture, is  not  adorned  by  any  obelifk,  or  other 
mark,  to  denote  its  paft  importance,  in  hav- 
ing been  once  the  fcene  of  fufferings  glo- 
rioufly  endured  by  the  moft  zealous  chrift- 
ian,  the  moft  fteady  patriot,  and  the  moft 
refined  philofopher  of  the  age  in  which  he 
lived. 

I  have  feen  a  fine  MS.  of  the  Confolations 
copied  in  the  tenth  century,  not  only  legible 
but  beautiful ;  and  I  have  been  affured  that 
the  hymns  written  by  his  firft  wife  Elpis, 
who,  though  fhe  brought  him  no  children, 
as  Bertius  fays,  was  yet  fda  curarum,  etjlu- 
dlorum  focla  *,  are  ftill  fung  in  the  Romiih 
churches  at  Brefcia  and  Bergamo,  fom^what 
altered  from  the  ftate  we  find  them  in  at  the 
end  of  Cominus's  edition  of  the  ConfoJations. 

Tradition  too,  I  find,  agrees  with  Proco- 
pius  in  telling  that  this  widow  of  Boethius, 

*  Faithful  to  his  cares,  and  companionable  in  his  flirdies. 

Rufticiana, 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        251 

Rufticiana,  daughter  of  Symmachus,  fpent  all 
the  little  money  fhe  had  left  in  hiring  people 
to  throw  down  in  the  night  all  the  ftatues  let  up 
in  Rome  to  the  honour  of  Theodoric,  who  had 
fentenced  her  hufband  to  a  death  fo  dreadful, 
that  it  gave  occafion  to  many  fabulous  tales 
reported  hy  Martin  Rota  as  miraculous 
truths.  His  bones,  gathered  up  as  relics  by 
Otho  III.  were  placed  in  a  chapel  dedicated 
to  St.  Auftin  in  St.  Peter's  church  at  Pavia 
four  hundred  and  feventy-two  years  after  his 
death,  with  an  epitaph  preferred  by  Pere 
Mabillon,  but  now  no  longer  legible. 

We  are  now  cutting  hay  here  for  the  laft 
time  this  feafon,  and  all  the  environs  fmell 
like  fpring  on  this  ijth  September  1786. 
The  autumnal  tint,  however,  falls  fafl  upon 
the  trees,  which  are  already  rich  with  a  deep 
yellow  hue.  A  wintery  feel  upon  the  atmo- 
fphere  early  in  a  morning,  heavy  fogs  about 
noon,  and  a  hollow  wind  towards  the  ap- 
proach of  night,  make  it  look  like  the  very 
laft  week  of  October  in  England,  and  warn 
us  that  fummer  is  going.  The  fame  circum- 
ftances  prompt  me,  who  am  about  to  forfake 
this  her  favourite  region,  to  provide  furs, 
flannels,  &c.  for  the  palling  of  thofe  Alps 

which 


35*  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

which  look  fo  formidable  when  covered  with 
fnow  even  at  their  prefent  diftance.  Our 
fwallows  are  calling  their  clamorous  council 
round  me  while  I  write  ;  but  the  butterflies 
ftill  flutter  about  in  the  middle  of  the  day, 
and  grapes  are  growing  more  wholefome  as 
with  us  when  the  mornings  begin  to  be 
frofty.  Our  deferts,  however,  do  not  remind 
us  of  Tufcany  :  the  cherries  here  are  not 
particularly  fine,  and  the  peaches  all  part 
from  the  ftone — miferable  things  !  an  Englifh 
gardener  would  not  fend  them  to  table  :  the 
figs  too  were  infinitely  finer  at  Leghorn,  and 
nectarines  have  I  never  feen  at  all. 

Well,  here  is  the  opera  begun  again ; 
fome  merry  wag,  Abate  Cafti  I  think,  has 
accommodated  and  adapted  the  old  ftory  of 
king  Theodore  to  put  in  ridicule  the  prefent 
king  of  Sweden,  who  is  hated  of  the  emperor 
for  fome  political  reafons  I  forget  what,  and 
he  of  courfe  patronifes  the  jefter.  Our  ho- 
neft  Bombards,  however,  take  no  delight  in 
mimicry,  and  feel  more  difguft  than  plea- 
fure  when  fimplicity  is  infulted,  or  diftrefs 
made  more  corrofive  by  the  bitternefs  of  a 
fcoffing  fpirit.  I  have  tried  to  fee  whether 
they  would  laugh  at  any  oddity  in  their 

neigh- 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.        255 

neighbour's  manner,  but  never  could  catch 
any,  except  perhaps  now  and  then  a  fly  Ra- 
man who  had  a  liking  for  it.  "  I  fee  nothing 
abfurd  about  the  man,"  fays  one  gentleman ; 
"  every  body  may  hare  fonle  peculiarity,  and 
moft  people  have ;  but  fuch  things  make  me 
no  fport :  let  us,  when  we  have  a  mind  to 
laugh,  go  and  laugh  at  Punchinello." — From 
fuch  critics,  therefore,  the  king  of  Sweden  is 
fafe  enough,  as  they  have  not  yet  acquired  the 
tafte  of  hunting  down  royalty,  and  crowing 
with  infantine  malice,  when  poflefTed  of  the 
mean  hope  that  they  are  able  to  pinch  a  noble  ' 
heart.  This  old-famioned  country,  which 
detefts  the  fight  of  fuffering  majefty,  hifles  off 
its  theatre  a  performance  calculated  to  divert 
them  at  the  expence  of  a  fovereign  prince, 
whofe  character  is  clear  from  blame,  and 
whofe  perfonal  weaknefles  are  protected  by 
his  birth  and  merit ;  while  it  is  to  his  open, 
free,  and  politely  generous  behaviour  alone,  they 
owe  the  knowledge  that  he  has  fuch  foibles. 
Paifiello,  therefore,  cannot  drive  it  down 
by  his  beft  mufic,  though  the  poor  king  of 
Sweden  is  a  Lutheran  too,  arid  if  any  thing 
would  make  them  hate  him,  that  would* 

One 


254.  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

One  vice,  however,  fometimes  prevents  the 
commiffion  of  another,  and  that  fame  pre- 
vailing idea  which  prompts  thefe  prejudiced 
Romanifts  to  conclude  him  doomed  to  lading 
torments  who  dares  differ  from  them,  though 
in  points  of  no  real  importance,  infpires  them 
at  the  fame  time  with  fuch  compaffion  for  his 
fuppofed  ftate  of  predeftinated  puni(hment,that 
they  rather  incline  to  defend  him  from  further 
mifery,  and  kindly  forbear  to  heap  ridicule  in 
this  world  upon  a  perfon  who  is  fure  to  fuf- 
fer  eternal  damnation  in  the  other. 

How  melancholy  that  people  who  poiTefs 
fuch  hearts  fhquld  have  the  head  thus  per- 
verfely  turned !  I  can  attribute  it  but  to  one 
caufe  ;  their  ftrange  neglect  and  forbearance 
to  read  and  ftudy  God's  holy  word  :  for  not  a 
very  few  of  them  have  I  found  who  feem  to 
difbelieve  the  Old  Teftament  entirely,  yet  re- 
main fteadily  and  ftrenuoufly  attached  to  the 
precedence  their  church  claims  over  every 
other ;  and  who  fhall  wonder  if  fuch  a  com- 
bination of  bigotry  with  fcepticifm  fhould 
produce  an  evaporation  of  what  little  is  left  of 
popery  from  the  world,  as  emetics  triturated 
with  opium  are  faid  to  produce  a  fudorific 
powder  which  no  earthly  conftitution  can  refift  ? 
i  But 


JOIJRNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        255 

But  the  Spanifh  grandee,  who  not  only  en- 
tertained but  aftonifhed  us  all  one  night  with 
his  converfation  at  Quirini's  Cafmo  at  Venice, 
is  arrived  here  at  Milan,  and  plays  upon  the 
violin.  He  challenged  acquaintance  with  us 
in  the  ftreet,  half  invited  htmfelf  to  our  pri- 
vate concert  laft  night,  and  did  us  the  honour 
to  perform  there,  with  the  (kill  of  a  profefTor, 
the  eager  defire  of  a  dilletante,  and  the  tediouf- 
nefs  of  a  folitary  ftudent ;  he  continued  to 
amaze,  delight,  and  fatigue  us  for  four  long 
hours  together.  He  is  a  man  of  prodigious 
talents,  and  replete  with  variety  of  knowledge. 
A  new  dance  has  been  tried  at  here  too,  but 
was  not  well  received,  though  it  reprefents 
the  terrible  ftory  which,  under  Madame  de 
GenhV  pen,  had  fuch  uncommon  fuccefs 
among  the  reading  world,  and  is  called 
La  fepolta  viva  ;  but  as  the  duchefs  Gira- 
falco,  whofe  misfortune  it  commemorates,  is 
ftill  alive,  the  pantomime  will  probably  be 
fupprefled :  for  me  has  relations  at  Milan  it 
feems,  and  one  lady  diftinguimed  for  elegance 
of  form,  and  charms  of  voice  and  manner, 
told  me  yefterday  with  equal  fweetnefs,  fpirit, 
and  propriety,  that  though  the  king  of  Naples 
fent  his  foldiers  to  free  her  aunt  from  that 

horrible 


fc5&  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

horrible  dungeon  where  fhe  had  been  nine 
years  confined,  yet  if  her  miferies  were  to 
^become  the  fubjecT:  of  ftage  reprefentation,  fhe 
could  hardly  be  pronounced  happy,  or 
even  at  eafe.  Truth  is,  I  would  be  loath  to 
fee  the  fpirit  of  producing  every  one's  private 
affairs,  true  or  falfe,  before  the  public  eye,  fpread 
into  this  country  :  No  !  let  that  humour  be 
confined  to  Great  Britain,  where  the  thoufand 
real  advantages  refulting  from  living  in  a  free 
flate,  richly  cbmpenfate  for  the  violations  of 
delicacy  annexed  to  it ;  and  where  the  laws 
do  protect,  though  the  individuals  infult  one : 
but  here,  why  the  people  would  be  rfiifera'ble 
indeed,  if  to  the  oppreffion  which  may  any 
hour  be  exercifed  over  them  by  their  prince, 
were  likewife  to  be  added  the  liberties  taken 
perpetually  in  London  by  one's  next  door 
neighbour,  of  tearing  forth  every  tranfaetion, 
and  publifhing  even  every  conjecture  to 
one's  difadvantage. 

With  thefe  reflections,  and  many  others, 
excited  by  gratitude  to  private  friends,  arid 
general  admiration  of  a  country  fo  juftly 
efteemed,  we  fhall  foon  take  our  leave  of 
Milan,  famed  for  her  truly  hofpitable  diipofi- 
tion  ;  a  temper  of  mind  fometimes  abufed  by 

travellers 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.        257 

travellers  perhaps,  whofe  birth  and  preten- 
fions  are  feldorri  or  ever  inquired  into,  whilft 
no  people  are  more  careful  of  keeping  their 
rank  inviolate  by  never  converfmg  on  equal 
terms  with  a  countryman  or  woman  of  their 
own,  who  carinot  produce  a  proper  length  of 
anceftry. 

I  will  not  leave  them  though,  without 
another  word  or  two  about  their  language^ 
whichj  though  it  founded  ftrangely  coarfe 
and  broad  to  be  fure,  as  we  returned  home 
from  Florence*  Rome,  and  Venice^  I  felt 
imcerely  glad  to  hear  again  ;  and  have  fome 
notion  by  their  way  of  pronouncing  bicchiere^ 
a  word  ufed  here  to  exprefs  every  thing  that 
holds  water,  that  our  pitcher  was  probably 
derived  from  it ;  and  the  Abate  Divecchio,  a 
polite  fcholar^  and  an  Uncommonly  agreeable 
companion*  feemed  to  think  fo  too*  His 
knowledge  of  the  Englifh  language,  joined  to 
the  fmgular  power  he  has  over  his  own  ele- 
gant Tufcan  tongue,  made  me  torment  him 
with  a  variety  of  inquiries  about  thefe"  con- 
fufmg  dialects,  which  leave  me  at  laft  littld 
chance  to  underftand  any,  whilft  a  child  U 
called  bambino  at  Florence,  putto  at  Venice, 
fcbiatto  at  Bergamo,  and  creatura  at  Rome  ; 

VOL,  II.  S  and 


258  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

and  at  Milan  they  call  a  wench  tofa :  an 
apron  is  grcmbiule  at  Florence  I  think)  tra- 
verfa  at  Venice,  bigarrol  at  Brefcia  and  fome 
other  partvS  of  Lombardy,  fenale  at  Rome, 
and  at  Milan  Jcozza.  A  foreigner  may  well 
be  diftracted  by  varieties  fo  flriking  ;  but  the 
turn  and  idiom  differ  ten  times  more  ftill,  and 
I  love  to  hear  our  Milanefe  call  an  oak  robur 
rather  than  quercia  fomehow,  and  tell  a  lady 
when  dreffed  in  white,  that  fhe  is  tutto  in 
albedine. 

On  Friday  the  22d  of  September  then  we  left 
Milan,  and  I  dropt  a  tear  or  two  in  remem- 
brance of  the  many  civilities  {hewn  by  our 
kind  and  partial  companions.  The  Abate  Bian- 
coni  made  me  wild  to  go  to  Drefden,  and 
enjoy  the  Correggioa  now  moved  from  Mo- 
dena  to  that  gallery.  I  find  he  thinks  the 
old  Romans  pronounced  Cicero  and  Cxfar  a& 
the  moderns  do,  and  many  Englifh  fcholars 
are  of  the  fame  mind  ;  but  here  are  coins 
dug  up  now  out  of  the  Veronefe  mountain 
with  the  word  Carolus,  fpelt  Karrulus,  upon 
them  quite  plain ;  and  Chriftus  was  fpelt 
Krijlus  in  Vefpafian's  time  it  is  certain,  be- 
caufe  of  the  player's  monument  at  Rome. — 
Dr.  Johnfon,  I  remember,  was  always  fteady 

7  to 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ITALY.        259 

to  that  opinion  ;  but  it  is  time  to  leave  all 
this,  and  rejoice  in  my  third  arrival  at  gay, 
cheerful,  charming 


VERONA, 


WHITHER  fome  fweet  leave-taking  verfes 
have  followed  us,  written  by  the  facetious 
Abate  Ravafi,  a  native  of  Rome,  but  for 
many  years  an  inhabitant  of  Milan.  His 
agreeable  fonnet,  every  line  ending  with 
tntto^  being  upon  a  fubjeft  of  general  import- 
ance, would  ferve  as  a  better  fpecimen  of  his 
abilities  than  lines  dictated  only  by  partial 
friendfhip  ; — but  I  hear  that  is  already  circu- 
lated about  the  world,  and  printed  in  one  of 
our  magazines ;  to  them  let  him  truft  his 
fame,  they  will  pay  my  juft  debts. 

We  have  now  feen  this  enchanting  fpot  in 
fpring,  fummer,  and  autumn ;  nor  could 
winter's  felf  render  it  undelightful,  while 
uniting  every  charm,  and  gratifying  every 
fenfe.  Greek  and  Roman  antiquities  falute  one 
at  the  gates  ;  Gothic  remains  render  each 
place  of  worfhip  venerable :  Nature  in  her 
S  2  holi- 


260  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

holiday  drefs  decks  the  environs,  and  fociety 
animates  with  intellectual  fire  the  amiable  in- 
habitants. Oh  !  were  I  to  live'  here  long,  I 
fhould  not  only  excufe,  but  applaud  the  Sca- 
ligers  for  ftraining  probability,  and  neglecl> 
ing  higher  praife,  only  to  claim  kindred  with 
the  Scalas  of  Verona.  Improvifation  at  this 
place  pleafes  me  far  better  than  it  did  in  Tuf~ 
cany.  Our  truly- learned  Abate  Lorenzi  afto- 
nifhes  all  who  hear  him,  by  repeating,  not 
fmging,  a  feries  of  admirably  juft  and  well- 
digefted  thoughts,  which  he,  and  he  alone, 
poffefles  the  power  of  arranging  fuddenly  as 
if  by  magic,  and  methodically  as  if  by  ftudy,  to 
rhymes  the  mod  melodious,  and  moft  varied  ; 
while  the  Abbe  Bertola,  of  the  univerfity  at 
Pavia,  gives  one  pleafure  by  the  fame  talent 
in  a  manner  totally  different,  fmging  his  un- 
premeditated ftrains  to  the  accompaniment  of 
a  harpfichord,  round  which  ftand  a  little  cho- 
rus of  friends,  who  interpolate  from  time  to 
time  two  lines  of  a  well-known  fong,  to  which 
he  pleafingly  adapts  his  compofitions,  and 
goes  on  gracing  the  barren  fubject,  and  adorn- 
ing it  with  every  poflible  decoration  of  wit, 
and  every  defirable  elegance  of  fentiment. 
Nothing  can  furely  furpafs  the  happy  promp- 
1 1  titude 


JOURNEY   THROUGH    ITALY.        a6r 

titude  of  his  expreflion,  unlefs  it  is  the  bril- 
liancy of  his  genius. 

We  were  in  a  large  company  laft  night,  where 
a  beautiful  woman  of  quality  came  in  dreff- 
ed  according  to  the  prefent  tafte,  with  a  gauze 
head-drefs,  adjufted  turbanwife,  and  a  heron's 
feather  ;  the  neck  wholly  bare.  Abate  Ber- 
tola  bid  me  look  at  her,  and,  recollecting  him- 
felfa  moment,  made  this  Epigram  improvifo: 

Volto  e  Crin  hai  di  Sultana, 

Perche  mai  mi  vien  difdetto, 
Sodducente  Mufifulmana 

Di  gittarti  il  Fazzoletto  ? 

of  which  I  can  give  no  better  imitation  than 
the  following  ; 

While  turban'd  head  and  plumage  high 
A  Sultanefs  proclaims  my  Cloe ; 

Thus  tempted,  tho'  no  Turk,  I'll  try 
The  handkerchief  you  fcorn — to  throw  ye. 

This  is  however  a  weak  fpecimen  of  his 
powers,  whofe  charming  fables  have  fo  com- 
pletely, in  my  mind,  furpafled  all  that  has 
ever  been  written  in  that  way  fmce  La  Fon- 
taine. I  am  flrongly  tempted  to  give  one 
little  ftory  out  of  his  pretty  book, 

S  3  Una 


262  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Una  lucertoletta 
Diceva  al  cocodrillo, 
Oh  quanto  mi  diletta 
Di  veder  fihalmente 
Un  della  mia  famiglia 
Si  grande  e  fi  potence  \ 
Ho  fatto  mille  miglia 
Per  yeniryi  a  vedere, 
Mentre  tra  noi  fi  ferba 
Di  voi  memoria  viva  ; 
Benche  fuggiam  tra  1'erba 
E  il  faflbfo  fentiero  : 
In  fen  pero  non  langue 
L'onor  del  prifco  fangue. 
L'anfibio  re  dormiva 
A  quefti  complimenti, 
Pur  fugli  ultirni  accent! 
Dal  Ibnno  ft  rilcoflTe 
E  dimando  chi  fofle  ? 
La  parentela  antica, 
II  viaggio,  la  fatica, 
Quella  torno  a  dire, 
Ed  ei  torne  a  dormire. 

X^afcia  i  grandi  ed  i  potenti, 
'  A  fognar  per  parenti  j 
Puoi  cortefi  flimarli 
Se  dormon  mentre  parli. 


Walking  full  many  a  weary 
The  lizard  met  the  crocodile  i 

And 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   ITALY.        263 

And  thus  began — how  fat,  how  fair. 
How  finely  guarded,  Sir,  you  are! 
'Tis  really  charming  thus  to  fee 
One's  kindred  in  profperity. 
I've  travell'd  far  to  find  your  coaft, 
But  fure  the  labour  was  not  16ft : 
For  you  muft  think  we  don't  forget 
Our  loving  coufm  now  fo  great  j 
And  tho'  our  humble  habitations 
Are  fuch  as  fuit  our  (lender  ftations, 
The  honour  of  the  lizard  blood 
Was  never  better  underftood. 

Th'  amphibious  prince,  who  flept  content, 
Ne'er  liftening  to  her  compliment, 
At  this  exprefiion  rais'd  his  head, 
And — Pray  who  are  you  ?  cooly  faid  j 
The  little  creature  now  renew'd 
Her  hiftory  of  toils  fubdu'd, 
Her  zeal  to  fee  her  coufin's  face, 
The  glory  of  her  ancient  race  j 
But  looking  nearer,  found  my  lord 
Was  faft  afleep  again — and  fnor'd. 

Ne'er  prefs  upon  a  rich  relation 
Rais'd  to  the  ranks  of  higher  ftation ; 
Or  if  you  will  difturbyour  coz, 
Be  happy  that  he  does  but  doze. 

But  I  will  not  be  feduced  by  the  pleafure  of 

praifing     my  fweet    friends    at   Verona,    to 

lengthen  this  chapter  with  further  panegyrics 

S  4  upon 


$64  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

upon  a  place  I  leave  with  the  trueft  tendei> 

nefs,  and  with  the  fmcereft  regret ;  while  the 

correfponden.ee  I  hope  Jong  to  maintain  with 

the  charming  Contefla  Mofconi,   muft  com- 

penfate  all  it  can  fpr  the  lofs  of  her  agreeable 

Coterie,  where  my  moft  delightful  evenings 

have  been  fpent ;  where  fp  many   topics  of 

Englifh  literature  have  been  difcufled  ;  where 

Lorenzi  read  Taflb  to  us  of  an  afternoon,  Ber- 

tola  made  verfes,  and  the  cavalier  Pindemonte 

converfed  5    where  the  three  Graces,  as  they 

are  called,  joined  their  fweet  voices  to  fing 

when  fatiety  of  pleafure  made  us  change  our 

mode  of  being   happy,  and  kept   one  from 

wifhing   ever  to  hear  any  thing  elfe;  while 

countefs  Carminati  fung  Bianchi's  duets  with 

the  only  tenor  fit    to  accompany  a  voice  fo 

touching,  and  a  talie  fo  refined.     Verona  !  qui 

te    viderit,    et   nov    amarity    fays    fome    old 

writer,  I    forget  who,   frotinus   amor  perdi- 

tijjlmo  ;  Is  credo  fe  ipfum  non  atwt  *.     Indeed 

I  never  faw  people  live  fo  pleafingly  together 

as  thefe  do  ;  the  women  apparently  delighting 

}n  each  other's  company,  without  mean  rivalry, 

*  Whoever  fees  thee  xyithout  being  fmitten  with  ex- 
traordinary paffion,  muft,  I  think,  be  incapable  of  loving 
even  himfelf. 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  ITALY.  265 
or  envy  of  thofe  accomplifhments  which  are 
commonly  beftowed  by  heaven  with  diverfity 
enough  for  all  to  have  their  fhare.  The 
world  furely  affords  room  for  every  body's 
talents,  would  every  body  that  poffeflecl  them 
but  think  fo  ;  and  were  malice  and  affectation 
once  completely  banifhed  from  cultivated  fo-r 
ciety,  Verona  might  be  found  in  many  places 
perhaps ;  fhe  is  now  confined,  I  think,  tQ 
the  fweet  ftate  of  Yenkf* 


JOURNEY 


T   H   RT  O  U  G   H 


TRENT,  INSPRUGK,  MUNICK,  AND 
SALTZSBURG,  TO  VIENNA, 


THE  Tyrolefe  Alps  are  not  as  beautiful 
as   thofe  of  Savoy,  though  the  river 

that  runs  between  them  is  wider  too;  but 
that  very  circumftance  takes  from  the  horror 
which  conftitutes  beauty  in  a  rocky  country, 
while  a  navigable  ftream  and  the  paflage  of 
large  floats  convey  ideas  of  commerce  and  fo- 
cial  life,  leaving  little  room  for  the  folitary 
fancies  produced,  and  the  ftrokes  of  fublimity 
indelibly  imprefTed,  by  the  mountains  of  La 
Haute  Morienne.  The  fight  of  a  town  where 

all 


OBSERVATIONS,    &c.  267 

all  the  theological  learning  of  Europe  was 
once  concentred,  affords  however  much  ground 
of  mental  amufement ;  while  the  fight  of  two 
nations,  not  naturally  congenial,  living  hap- 
pily together,  as  the  Germans  and  Italians  here 
do,  is  pleaimg  to  all. 

We  faw  the  apartments  of  the  Prince  Bi- 
fhop,  but  found  few  things  worth  remarking, 
except  that  in  the  pictures  of  Carlo  Loti  there 
is  a  (hade  of  the  Flemifh  fchool  to  be  difcerned, 
which  was  pretty  as  we  are  now  hard  upon 
the  confines.  Our  fovereign  here  keeps  his 
little  menagerie  in  a  mighty  elegant  ftyle  :  the 
animals  poflefs  an  infulated  rock,  furrounded 
by  the  Adige,  and  planted  with  every  thing 
that  can  pleafe  them  beft  ;  the  wild,  or  more 
properly  the  predatory  creatures,  are  confin* 
ed,  but  in  very  fpacious  apartments ;  with 
each  a  handfome  outlet  for  amufement : 
while  fuch  as  are  granivorous  rove  at  plea- 
fare  over  their  domain,  to  which  their  mafter 
often  comes  in  fummer  to  eat  ice  at  a  ban- 
quetting  houfe  erected  for  him  in  the  middle, 
whence  a  profpect  of  a  peculiar  nature  is  enjoy- 
ed ;  great  beauty,  much  variety,  and  a  very 
limited  horizon,  like  fome  of  the  views  about 
Bath. 

At 


*68  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

At  the  death  of  one  prince  another  is  chofen, 
and  government  carried  on  as  at  Rome  in  mi- 
mature.  We  ftaid  here  two  nights  and  one 
day,  thought  perpetually  of  Matlock  and  Ivy 
Bridge,  and  faw  fome  rarities  belonging  to  a 
man  who  {hewed  us  a  picture  of  our  Saviour's 
circumcifion,  and  told  us  it  was  San  Simeone, 
a  baby  who  having  gone  through  many 
ilrange  operations  and  torments  among  fome 
Jews  who  dole  him  from  his  parents,  as  the 
ftory  goes  here  at  Trent,  they  murdered  him  at 
laft,  and  he  became  a  faint  and  a  martyr,  to 
whom  much  devotion  is  paid  at  this  place, 
though  I  fancy  he  was  never  heard  of  any 
where  elfe. 

The  river  foon  after  we  left  Trent  con- 
tracted to  a  rapid  and  narrow  torrent,  fuch  as 
dafhes  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps  in  Savoy ;  the 
rocks  grew  more  pointed,  and  the  profpects 
gained  in  fublimity  at  every  ftep  ;  though  the 
neatnefs  of  the  culture,  and  quantity  of  vines, 
•with  the  variegated  colouring  of  the  woods, 
continued  to  excite  images  more  foft  than 
formidable,  lefs  folemn  than  lovely.  The 
barberry  bufhes  bind  every  mountain  round 
the  middle  as  with  a  fcarlet  fafh,  and  when 

we 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      269 

we  looked  down  upon  them  from  a  houfe 
fituated  as  if  in  the  place  which  the  Frenchman 
feemed  to  have  a  notion  of,  when  he  thought 
the  aerian  travellers  were  gone  au  lieu  ou  les 
vents  f€  forwent,  they  looked  wonderfully- 
pretty.  The  cleanlinefs  and  comfort  with 
which  we  are  now  lodged  at  every  inn,  evince 
our  diftance  from  France  however,  and  even 
from  Italy,  where  low  cielings,  clean  windows, 
and  warm  rooms,  are  deemed  pernicious  to 
health,  and  deftrudive  of  true  delight.  Here 
however  we  iind  ourfelves  cruelly  diftrefled 
for  want  of  language,  and  muft  therefore 
depend  on  our  eyes  only,  not  our  ears,  for 
information  concerning  the  golden  houfe,  or 
more  properly  the  golden  roof,  long  known 
to  fubfift  at  Infpruck.  The  itory,  as  well  as 
I  can  gather  it,  is  this  :  That  fome  man  was 
reproached  with  fpending  more  than  he  could 
afford,  till  fome  of  his  neighbours  cried  out, 
"  Why  he'll  roof  his  houfe  with  gold  foon, 
but  who  fhall  pay  the  expence  ?" — "  /  will ;'' 
quoth  the  piqued  German,  and  actually  did 
gild  his  tiles.  My  heart  tells  me  however, 
though  my  memory  will  not  call  up  the  par- 
ticulars, that  I  have  heard  a  tale  very  like  this 
before  nowj  but  one  is  always  liftening  to  the 

iame 


3.7d  OBSERVATIONS    Ifr    A 

fame  {lories  I  think  :  At  Rome,  when  they 
fhew  a  fine  head  lightly  fketched  by  Michael 
Angelo,  they  inform  you  how  he  left  it  on 
Raphael's  wall,  after  the  manner  of  Apelles 
and  Protogenes ;  it  is  called  Tefta  di  Ciam- 
bellaro*  becaufe  he  came  difguifed  as  a  feller 
of  ciambelle^  or  little  bifcuits,  while  Raphael's 
fcholars  were  painting  at  the  Farnefmi.  At 
Milan,  when  they  point  out  to  you  the  extra- 
ordinary architecture  of  the  church  detto  il 
GiardiiiO)  the  roof  of  which  is  fupported  by 
geometrical  dependance  of  one  part  upon 
another,  without  columns  or  piers,  they  tell 
how  the  architect  ran  away  the  moment  it 
was  finimed,  for  fear  its  fudden  fall  might 
difgrace  him.  This  tale  was  very  familiar  to 
me,  I  had  heard  it  long  ago  related  of  a 
Welch  bridge ;  but  it  is  better  only  fay  what 
Is  true. 

This  is  a  fweetly  fituated  town,  and  a  rapid 
ftream  runs  through  it  as  at  Trent ;  and  it  is 
no  fmall  comfort  to  find  one's  felf  once  more 
waited  on  by  clean  looking  females,  who 
make  your  bed,  fweep  your  room,  &c.  while 
the  pewters  in  the  little  neat  kitchens,  as  one 
paries  through,  amaze  me  with  their  bright- 

nefs, 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   GERMANY.    271 

nefs,  that  I  feel  as  if  in  a  new  world,  it  isfo 
long  fince  I  have  feen  any  metal  but  gold  un- 
encrufted  by  naftinefs,  and  gold  will  not  be 
dirty. 

The  clumfy  churches  here  are  more  vio- 
lently crowded  with  ornaments  than  I  have 
found  them  yet ;  and  for  one  crucifix  or 
Madonna  to  be  met  with  on  Italian  roads, 
here  are  at  leaft  forty ;  an  ill  carved  and  worfe 
painted  figure  of  a  bleeding  Saviour,  large  as 
life,  meets  one  at  every  turn  ;  and  I  feel  glad 
when  the  odd  devotion  of  the  inhabitants  hangs 
a  clean  fhirt  or  laced  waiftcoat  over  it,  or  both. 
Another  cuftom  they  have  wholly  new  to  me, 
that  of  keeping  the  real  fkeletons  of  their  old 
nobles,  or  faints,  or  any  one  for  whom  they  have 
peculiar  veneration,  male  or  female,  in  a  large 
clean  glafs  box  or  cryftal  cafe,  placed  horizon- 
tally, and  drelTed  in  fine  fcarlet  and  gold  robes, 
the  poor  naked  fkull  crowned  with  a  coronet, 
and  the  feet  peeping  out  below  the  petticoats. 
Thefe  melancholy  objects  adorn  all  their  places 
of  worfhip,  being  fet  on  brackets  by  the  wall 
infide,  and  remind  me  ftrangely  of  our  old 
ballad  of  Death  and  the  Lady ; 

Fair  lady,  lay  your  coftly  robes  afide,  &c. 

No 


2?a  OBSERVATIONS    itf   A 

No  body  ever  mentions  that  Infpruck  is 
fubject  to  fires,  and  I  wonder  at  it,  as  the  roofs 
are  all  wood  cut  tile- ways,  and  heavily  penfile, 
like  our  barns  in  England,  for  the  fnow  to 
roll  off  the  eafier. 

Well !  we  are  far  removed  indeed  from 
Italian  architecture,  Italian  fculpture,  and  Ita- 
lian manners ;  but  here  are  twenty-eight  old 
kings,  or  keyfers,  as  our  German  friends  call 
them,  large  as  life,  and  of  good  folid  bronze, 
curioufly  worked  to  imitate  lace,  embroidery, 
&c.  (landing  in  two  rows,  very  extraordinarily, 
up  one  of  their  churches.  I  have  not  feen 
more  frowning  vifages  or  finer  drefTes  for  a 
long  time ;  and  here  is  a  warm  feel  as  one 
pafTes  by  the  houfes,  even  in  the  ftreet,  from 
the  heat  of  the  ftoves ,  which  moft  ingenioufly 
conceal  from  one's  view  that  moft  cheerful  of 
all  fights  in  cold  weather,  a  good  fire.  This 
feems  a  very  unnecefTary  device,  and  the  heated 
porcelain  is  apt  to  make  one's  head  ache  be- 
fide ;  all  for  the  fake  of  this  cunning  contri- 
vance, to  make  one  enjoy  the  eifecl:  of  fire 
•without  feeing  the  caufe. 

The  women  that  run  about  the  town,  mean 
lime,  take  the  neareft  way  to  be  warm,  wrap- 
ping 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     273 

ping  themfelves  up  in  cloth  clothes,  like  fo 
many  fifhermen  at  the  mouth  of  the  Humber, 
and  wear  a  fort  of  rug  cap  grofsly  unbecom- 
ing. But  too  great  an  attention  to  convenience 
difgufts  as  furely  as  too  little;  and  while  a 
Venetian  wench  apparently  feeks  only  to  cap- 
tivate the  contrary  fex,  thefe  German  girls 
as  plainly  proclaim  their  refolution  not  to 
facrifice  a  grain  of  perfonal  comfort  for  the 
pleafure  of  pleafmg  all  the  men  alive. 

How  truly  hateful  are  extremes  of  every 
thing  each  day's  experience  convinces  ;  from 
fuperflition  and  infidelity,  down  to  the  Fribble 
and  the  Brute,  one's  heart  abhors  the  folly  of 
reverfing  wrong  to  look  for  right,  which  lives 
only  in  the  middle  way  ;  and  Solomon,  the 
wifeft  man  of  any  age  or  nation,  places  the 
fovereign  good  in  mediocrity  of  every  thing, 
moral,  political,  and  religious. 

With  this  good  axiom  of  nequld  nlm'is *  in 
our  mouths  and  minds,  we  fhculd  not  per- 
haps have  driven  fo  very  hard  ;  but  a  lefs 
effort  would  have  detained  us  longer  from  the 
fineft  object  I  altnoft  ever  faw ;  the  fun  rifmg 
between  fix  and  feven  o'clock  upon  the  plains 
of  Munich,  and  difcovering  to  our  fpothed 
*  Nothing  too  much. 

VOL.  II.  T  fight 


274  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

fight  a  lovely  champain  country,  fuch  as  might 
be  called  a  flat  I  fear,  by  thofe  who  were  not 
like  us  accuftomed  to  a  hilly  one ;  but  after 
four-and- twenty  hours  patted  among  the  Alps, 
I  feel  fmcerely  rejoiced  to  quit  the  clouds  and 
get  upon  a  level  with  human  creatures,  leaving 
the  goats  and  chamois  to  delight  as  they  do 
in  bounding  from  rock  to  rock,  with  an  agi- 
lity that  amazes  one. 

Our  weather  continuing  particularly  fine,  it 
was  curious  to  watch  one  picturefque  beauty 
changing  for  another  as  we  drove  along ;  for  no 
fooner  were  the  rich  vineyards  and  fmall  inclo- 
fures  left  behind,  than  large  pafture  lands  filled 
with  feeding  or  repofmg  cattle,  cows,  oxen, 
horfes,  fifty  in  a  field  perhaps,  prefented  to 
our  eyes  an  objecl:  they  had  not  contemplated 
for  two  years  before,  and  revived  ideas  of 
England,  which  had  long  Iain  buried  under 
Italian  fertility. 

Inilead  of  lying  down  to  reft,  having  heard 
\ve  had  friends  at  the  fame  inn,  we  ran  with 
them  to  fee  the  picture  gallery,  more  for  the 
lake  of  doing  again  what  we  had  once  done 
before  at  Paris  with  the  fame  agreeable  com- 
pany, than  with  any  hope  of  entertainment, 

which 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.    275 

which  however  upon  trial  was  found  by  no 
means  deficient.  Had  there  been  no  more 
than  the  glow  of  colouring  which  refults  from 
the  fight  of  fo  many  Flemish  pictures  at  once, 
it  muft  have  ftruck  one  forcibly ;  but  the 
murder  of  the  Innocents  by  Rubens,  a  great 
performance,  gave  me  an  opportunity  of  ob- 
ferving  the  different  ways  by  which  that  great 
matter,  Guido  Rheni,  and  Le  Brun,  lay  hold 
of  the  human  heart.  The  difference  does  not 
however  appear  to  me  infpired  at  all  by  what 
we  term  national  character  ;  for  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Germany  are  reckoned  flow  to  anger, 
and  of  phlegmatic  difpofitions,  while  a  French- 
man is  accounted  light  and  airy  in  his  ideas, 
an  Italian  fiery  and  revengeful.  Yet  Rubens's 
principal  figure  follows  the  ruffian  who  has 
feized  her  child,  and  with  a  countenance  at 
once  exciting  and  expreffive  of  horror,  en- 
deavours, and  almoft  arrives  at  tearing  both 
his  eyes  out.  One  actually  fees  the  fellow 
ftruggling  between  his  efforts  to  hold  the  in-* 
fant  faft,  and  yet  rid  himfelf  of  the  mother, 
while  blood  and  anguifh  apparently  follow  the 
impreffion  her  nails  are  making  in  the  ten* 
dereft  parts  of  his  face.  Guido,  on  the  con- 
trary, in  one  of  the  churches  at  Bologna,  ex- 
T  2  hibits 


276  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

hibits  a  beautiful  young  creature  of  no  mean 
rank,  elegant  in  her  affliction,  and  lovely  in 
her  diftrefs,  fitting  with  folded  arms  upon  the 
fore-ground,  contemplating  the  cold  corpfe 
of  her  murdered  baby  ;  his  nurfe  wringing 
her  hands  befide  them,  while  crowds  of  di£- 
tracked  parents  fill  the  perfpective,  and  the 
executioners  themfelves  appear  to  pay  unwil- 
ling obedience  to  their  inhuman  king,  who  is 
feen  animating  them  himfelf  from  the  top  of 
a  diftant  tower. — Le  Brun  mean  time,  with 
more  imagination  and  fublimity  than  either, 
makes  even  brute  animals  feem  fenfible,  and 
fhudder  at  a  fcene  fo  dreadful;  while  the  very 
horfes  who  fhould  bear  the  cruel  prince  over 
the  theatre  of  his  crimes,  fnort  and  tremble, 
and  turning  away  with  uncontrollable  fury, 
refufe  by  trampling  in  their  blood  to  violate 
fuch  injured  innocence! — Enough  of  this. 

The  patient  German  is  feen  in  all  they 
(hew  us,  from  the  painting  of  Brughuel  to  the 
mufic  of  Haydn.  A  friend  here  who  fpeaks 
good  Italian  (hewed  us  a  collection  of  rarities, 
among  which  was  a  picture  formed  of  butter- 
flies wings;  and  a  fet  of  boxes  one  within 
another,  till  my  eyes  were  tired  with  trying  to 
difcern,  and  the  patience  of  my  companions 

was 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     277 

was  wearied  with  counting  them,  when  the 
number  patted  feventy-three :  this  amufement 
has  at  lead  the  grace  of  novelty  to  recommend 
it.  I  had  not  formed  to  myfelf  an  idea  of 
fuch  unmeaning,  fuch  taftelefs,  yet  truly  ela- 
borate nicety  of  workmanfhip,  as  may  be 
found  in  the  Elector's  chapel,  where  every 
relic  repofes  in  forne  frame,  enamelled  and 
adorned  with  a  minutenefs  of  attention  and 
delicacy  of  manual  operation  that  aftonifhes. 
The  prodigious  quantity  of  thefe  gold  or 
ivory  figures,  finiflied  fo  as  to  require  a  man's 
whole  life  to  each  of  them,  are  of  immenfe 
value  in  their  way  at  leaft,  and  fill  one's  mind 
xvith  a  fort  of  petty  and  frivolous  wonder  to- 
tally  unexperienced  till  now,  bringing  to  one's 
recollection  every  hour  Pope's  famous  line — 

Lo !  what  huge  heaps  of  littlenefs  around ! 

The  contraft  between  this  chapel  and  Cap- 
pella  Borghefe  never  left  my  fancy  for  a  mo- 
ment :  but  if  the  coft  of  thefe  curious  trifles 
caufed  my  continued  furprife,  how  was  that 
furprife  increafed  by  obferving  the  bed- 
chamber of  the  Elector ;  where  they  told  us 
that  no  lefs  than  one  hundred  thoufand 
T  3  pounds 


278  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

pounds  fterling  were  buried  under  loads  of 
gold  tiflue,  red  velvet,  and  old-fafhioned 
carved  work,  without  the  merit  even  of  an 
attempt  towards  elegance  or  tafte  ? 

Nimphenbourg  palace  and  gardens  remind- 
ed me  of  Englifh  gardening  forty  years  age, 
while-— 

Grove  nods  at  grove,  each  alley  has  a  brother, 
And  half  the  platform  juft  refleds  the  other. 

I  do  think  I  can  recoiled:  going  with  my  pa- 
rents and  friends  to  fee  Lord  Royfton's  feat  at 
Wreft,  when  we  lived  in  Hertfordlhire,  in 
the  year  1750  ;  and  it  was  juft  fuch  a  place 
as  Nimphenbourg  is  at  this  day.  Now  for 
fome  juft  praife  ;  every  thing  is  kept  fo  neat 
here,  fo  clean,  fo  fweet,  fo  comfortably  nice, 
that  it  is  a  real  pleafure  fomehow  either  to 
go  out  in  this  town  or  ftay  at  home  :  the 
public  baths  are  delicious  ;  the  private  rooms 
with  boarded  floors,  all  fwepr,  and  brumed, 
and  dufted,  that  not  a  cobweb  can  be  feen  in 
Munich,  except  one  kept  for  a  rarity,  with  the 
Virgin  and  Child  worked  in  it,  and  wrought 
to  fuch  an  unrivalled  pitch  of  delicate  iinenefs, 
that  till  we  held  it  up  to  the  light  no  naked 

eye 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.  279 

eye  could  difcern  the  figures  it  contained,  till 
a  microfcope  foon  difcovered  the  fkill  and 
patience  requifite  to  its  production; — great 
pains  indeed,  and  little  effect !  We  have  left 
the  country  where  things  were  exactly  the 
reverfe, — great  effect,  and  little  pains !  But 
it  is  the  fame  in  every  thing. 

The  women's  fcrupulous  attention  to  keep 
their  perfons  clear  from  dirt,  makes  their  faces 
look  doubly  fair ;  their  complexions  have 
quite  a  luftre  upon  them,  like  fome  of  our 
wenches  in  the  Weft  of  England,  whofe 
tranfparent  fkins  fhew,  by  the  motion  of  the 
blood  beneath,  an  illuminated  countenance 
that  (lands  in  the  place  of  eye-language,  and 
betrays  the  fentiments  of  the  innocent  heart 
with  uncontrolable  fmcerity,  Thefe  girls 
however  will  not  be  found  to  attract  or  retain 
lovers,  like  an  Italian,  whofe  black  eyes  and 
white  teeth  (though  their  pofleffor  thinks  no 
more  of  cleaning  the  laft-named  beauty  than 
the  firft)  tell  her  mind  clearly,  and  with  little 
pains  again  produce  certain  and'ftrong  effect. 
Our  ftiff  golcl-ftuff  cap  here  too,  as  round,  as 
hard,  and  as  heavy  as  an  old  Japan  China 
bafon,  and  not  very  unlike  one,  is  by  no 
T  4  means 


4So  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

means  favourable  to  the  face,  as  it  is  clapped 
clofe  round  the  head,  the  hair  combed  all 
fmooth  out  of  fight,  and  a  plaited  border  of 
lace  to  it  made  firm  with  double-fprigged 
wire;  giving  its  wearer  all  the  hardnefs  and 
prim  look  of  a  Quaker,  without  that  idea  of 
fimplicity  which  in  their  drefs  compenfates  for 
the  abfence  of  every  ornament. 

The  gentlemen's  mamere  de  fajujler  is  to 
me  equally  ftriking  :  an  old  nobleman  who 
takes  delight  in  {hewing  us  the  glories  of  his 
little  court  (where  I  have  a  notion  he  himfelf 
holds  fome  honourable  office)  came  to  dine 
with  us  yefterday  in  a  drefled  coat  of  fine, 
clean,  white  broad-cloth,  laced  all  down  with 
gold,  and  lined' with  crimfon  fattin,  of  which 
likewife  the  waiftcoat  was  made,  •  and  laced 
about  with  a  narrower  lace,  but  pretty  broad 
too ;  fo  that  I  thought  I  faw  the  very  coat  my 
father  went  in  to  the  old  king's  birth-day 
five  and  thirty  years  ago.  There  is  more 
ftatelinefs  too  and  ceremonious  manners  in  the 
converfation  of  this  gentleman,  and  the  friends 
he  introduced  us  to,  than  I  have  of  late  been 
accuftomed  to ;  and  they  fatigue  one  with 
long,  dry,  uninterefting  narratives.  The  inn- 
keepers 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.    281 

keepers  are  honeft,  but  inflexible ;  the  fer- 
vants  filent  and  fallen ;  tbe  poftillions  flow 
and  inattentive  ;  and  every  thing  exhibits  the 
reverfe  of  what  we  have  left  behind. 

The  treafures  of  this  little  Elector  are  pro- 
digious, his  jewels  fuperb ;  the  Electrefs's 
pearls  are  fuperior  in  fize  and  regularity  to 
thofe  at  Loretto,  but  that  diftinguifhed  by  the 
name  of  the  "  Pearl  of  the  Palatinate"  is  furely 
incomparable,  and,  as  fuch,  always  carried  to 
the  election  of  a  new  Emperor,  when  each 
brings  his  fineft  pofTeffion  in  his  hand,  like 
the  Princefs  of  Babylon's  wooers, — which  was 
perhaps  meant  by  Voltaire  as  a  joke  upon  the 
cuftom.  This  pearl  is  about  the  bignefs  and 
fhape  of  a  very  fine  filberd,  the  upper  part  or 
cap  of  it  jet  black,  fmooth  and  perfectly  beau- 
tiful ;  it  is  unique  in  the  known  'world. 

Our  Prince's  dinner  here  is  announced  by 
the  found  of  drums  and  trumpets,  and  he  has 
always  a  concert  playing  while  he  dines : 
pomp  is  at  this  place  indeed  fo  artfully  fub- 
ftituted  inftead  of  general  confequence,  that 
while  one  remains  here  one  fcarcely  feels 
aware  how  little  any  one  but  his  own  cour- 
tiers car}  be  thinking  about  the  Elector  of 

Bavaria  j 


2«*          OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Bavaria  ;  but  ceremony  is  of  moft  ufe  where 
there  is  leaft  importance,  and  glitter  beft  hides 
the  want  of  folidity. 

From  Munich  to  Saltzbourg  nothing  can 
exceed  the  beauties  of  the  country;  whole 
woods,  and  we  may  fay  forefts,  of  evergreen 
timber,  keep  all  idea  of  winter  kindly  at  a 
diftance :  the  road  lies  through  thefe  ele- 
gantly-varied thickets,  which  foinetimes  are 
formed  of  cedars,  often  of  foxtailed  pines, 
while  a  pale  larch  fometimes,  and 
gloomy  cyprefs,  hinder  the  verdure  from 
being  too  monotonous ;  here  are  likewife 
mingled  among  them  fome  oak  and  beech  of 
a  majeftic  fize.  Nor  do  our  profpects  want 
that  dignity  which  mountains  alone  can  be- 
llow ;  thofe  which  feparate  Bavaria  from  Hun- 
gary are  high,  and  of  confiderable  extent ;  a 
long  range  they  are  of  bulky  fortifications, 
behind  which  I  am  informed  the  country  is 
far  coarfer  than  here. 

The  cathedral  at  Saltzbourg  is  modern, 
built  upon  the  model  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome, 
but  on  a  fmall  fcale :  one  now  fees  how  few 
the  defects  are  of  that  aftonifliing  pile,  though 
brought  clofe  to  one's  eye,  by  being  ftript  of 

the 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      283 

the  awful  magnitude  that  kept  examination  at 
a  diftance.  The  mufical  bells  remind  me  of 
thofe  at  Bath,  and  every  thing  here  feems,  as 
at  Bath,  the  work  of  this  prefent  century  ; 
but  there  is  a  Benedictine  convent  feated  on 
the  top  of  a  hill  above  the  town,  of  exceeding 
antiquity,  founded  before  the  conqueft  of 
England  by  William  the  Norman;  under 
which  lie  its  founder  and  protectors,  the  old 
Dukes  of  Bavaria  ;  which  they  are  happy  to 
{hew  travellers,  with  the  regiftered  account 
of  their  young  Prince  Adam,  who  came  over 
to  our  iiland  with  William,  and  gained  a  fet- 
tlement :  they  were  pleafed  when  I  proved  to 
them,  that  his  blood  was  not  yet  wholly  ex- 
tinct among  us. 

A  fever  hindered  us  here  from  looking  at 
the  falt-works,  from  which  the  city  takes  its 
name :  but  the  water- works  at  Heelbrun 
pleafed  us  for  a  moment ;  and  I  never  faw 
beavers  live  fo  happily  as  with  the  Archbiihop 
of  Saltzbourg,  who  fufFers,  and  even  en- 
courages, his  tame  ones  to  dig,  and  build, 
and  amufe  themfelves  their  own  way :  he  has 
fim  too  which  eat  out  of  his  hand,  and  are 
not  carp,  but  I  do  not  know  what  they  are; 

my 


284  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

my  want  of  language  diftra&s  me.  Thefe 
German  dreams  appear  to  us  particularly  pel- 
lucid, and,  by  what  I  can  gather  from  the 
people,  this  water  never  freezes.  The  tafte  of 
gardening  ieems  juft  what  ours  was  in  England 
before  Stowe  was  planned,  and  they  divert 
you  now  with  puppets  moved  by  concealed 
machinery,  as  I  recoiled  their  doing  at  places 
round  London,  called  the  Spaniard  at  Hamp- 
ftead  and  Don  Saltero's  at  Chelfea. 

The  Prince  Archbiihop's  income  is  from 
three  to  four 'hundred  thoufand  a  year  I  un- 
derftand,  and  he  fpends  it  among  his  fubjects, 
who  half  adore  him.  His  chief  delight  is  in 
brute  animals  they  tell  me,  particularly  horfes, 
which  engrofs  fo  much  of  his  attention  that  he 
keeps  one  hundred  and  feventeen  for  his  own 
private  and  perfonal  ufe,  of  various  merits, 
beauties,  and  pedigrees ;  never  furely  was  fp 
elegant,  fo  capital  a  ftud  !  And  he  is  fingu- 
larly  fond  of  a  breed  of  fine  filky-haired  Eng-^ 
lifh  fetting-dogs,  red  and  white,  and  very 
high  upon  their  legs. 

The  country  which  carried  us  forward  to 
Vienna  is  eminently  fine,  and  fine  in  a  way 
that  is  now  once  more  grown  new  to  me  ;  no 
hedges  here,  no  finall  inclofures  at  all ;  but 

rich 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.    285 

rich  land,  lying  like  as  in  Dorfetfhire,  divided 
into  arable  and  pafture  grounds,  clumped 
about  with  woods  of  evergreen.  Such  is  the 
genius  of  this  fovereign  for  Englifh  manners 
and  Englifh  agriculture,  that  no  converfation 
is  faid  to  be  more  welcome  at  his  court  than 
ivhat  relates  to  the  fports  or  profits  of  the  field 
in  Britain ;  to  which  accounts  he  liflens  with 
good-humoured  earneftnefs,  and  talks  of  a 
fine  fcenting  day  with  the  true  tafte  of  an 
Englifh  country  gentleman. 

On  this  day  I  firft  faw  the  Danube  at  Lintz, 
where,  though  but  juft  burft  from  the  fpring, 
it  is  already  fo  deep  and  ftrong  that  fcarcely 
any  wooden  bridge  is  capable  to  refift  it,  and 
accordingly  it  did  a  few  months  ago  over- 
whelm many  cottages  and  fields,  among 
which  we  palled.  The  inhabitants  here  call  it 
Donaw  from  its  fwiftnefs ;  and  it  deferves  be- 
fide,  any  name  expreflive  of  that  fmgular  pu- 
rity which  diftinguimes  the  German  torrents. 

The  rivers  of  France,  Italy,  and  England, 
give  one  no  idea  of  that  elemental  perfection 
found  in  the  fluids  here ;  not  a  pebble,  not  a 
fifh  in  thefe  tranflucent  dreams,  but  may  be 
difcerned  to  a  depth  of  twelve  feet.  As  the 
2  water 


$86          OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

water  in  Germany,  fo  is  the  atmofphere  irt 
Italy,  a  medium  fo  little  obftruded  by  vapour 
I  remember,  that  Vefuvius  looked  as  near  to 
Naples,  from  our  window,  as  does  lord  Lif- 
burne's  park  from  the  little  town  of  Exmouth 
oppofite,  a  diftance  of  about  five  miles  I  be- 
lieve, and  the  other  is  near  ten.  Let  me  add, 
that  this  peculiarity  brings  every  object  for- 
ward with  a  certain  degree  of  hardnefs  not 
wholly  pleafing  to  the  eye.  The  profpecla 
round  Naples  have  another  fault,  refulting  from 
too  great  perfection  :  the  fky's  brilliant  unifor- 
mity, and  utter  cloudleflhefs  for  many  months 
together,  takes  away  thofe  broad  mafles  of 
light  and  fhade,  with  the  volant  fhadows  that 
crofs  our  Britifh  hills,  relieving  the  fight,  and 
difcriminating  the  landfcape. 

The  fcenery  round  Conway  Caftle  in  North 
Wales,  with  a  thunder-ftorm  rolling  over  the 
mountain ;  the  fea  ftrongly  illuminated  on 
one  fide,  with  the  fun  fhining  bright  upon 
the  verdure  on  the  other ;  the  lights  dropping 
in  patches  about  one  ;  exhibits  a  variety,  the 
which  to  equal  will  be  very  difficult,  let  us  tra- 
vel as  far  as  we  pleafe. 

Magnificence  of  a  far  different  kind  how- 
ever claims  our  prefent  attention — a  convent 

and 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.    287 

and  church  fhewn  us  at  Molcke  upon  our 
Way,  the  refidence  of  eighteen  friars  who  in- 
habit a  (lately  palace  it  is  confeifed,  while  three 
immenfe  courts  precede  your  entrance  to  a 
fplendid  ftructure  of  enormous  fize,  on  which 
the  finery  beftowed  amazed  even  me,  who 
came  from  Rome;  nor  had  entertained  an 
idea  of  feeing  fuch  gilding,  and  carving,  and 
profufion  of  expence,  lavifhed  on  a  place  of 
religious  retirement  in  our  road  to 


VIENNA. 

WE  entered  the  capital  by  night ;  but  I 
fancied,  perhaps  from  having  been  told  fo 
that  I  faw  fomethirig  like  a  look  of  London 
round  me.  Apartments  furnimed  wholly  in 
the  Paris  tafte  take  off  that  look  a  little  ;  fo 
do  the  public  walks  and  drives  which  are  form- 
ed etoile-wife,  and  moving  flowly  up  and 
down  the  avenues,  you  fee  large  ftags,  wild 
boars,  &c.  grazing  at  liberty :  this  is  grander 
than  our  park,  and  graver  than  the  Corfc. 
Whenever  they  lay  out  a  piece  of  water  in  this 
country,  it  is  covered  as  in  ours  with  fwans, 

who 
S 


288  OBSERVATIONS   IN   A 

who  have  completely  quitted  the  odoriferous 
Po  for  the  clear  and  rapid  Danube. 

Vienna  was  not  likely  to  ftrike  one  with 
its  churches  ;  yet  the  old  cathedral  is  majeftic, 
and  by  no  means  ftript  of  thofe  ornaments 
which,  while  one  feel:  of  Chriftians  think  it  par- 
licularly  pleafmg  in  the  fight  of  God  to  re- 
tain, is  hardly  warrantable  in  another  feet, 
though  wifer,  to  be  over-hafty  in  tearing 
away.  Here  are  however  many  devotional 
figures  and  -chapels  left  in  the  ftreets  I  fee, 
which,  from  the  tales  told  in  Auftrian  Lom- 
bardy,  one  had  little  reafon  to  expect ;  but  the 
emperor  is  tender  even  to  the  foibles  of  his 
Viennefe  fubjedts,  while  he  {hews  little  feel- 
ing to  Italian  mifery.  Men  drawing  carts 
along  the  roads  and  ftreet  afford,  indeed,  fome- 
what  an  awkward  proof  the  government's  le- 
nity, when  human  creatures  are  levelled  with 
the  beafts  of  burden,  and  called  Jlott  eifel^  or 
Jtout  afles,  as  I  underftand,  who  by  this  in- 
formation have  learned  that  the  frame  which 
fupports  a  picture  is  for  the  fame  reafon  called 
an  eifel)  as  we  call  a  thing  to  hang  clothes  on 
a  borfe.  It  is  the  genius  of  the  German  lan- 
guage to  degrade  all  our  Englifh  words  fome- 

how; 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    GERMANY.    289 

how :  they  call  a  coach  a  waggon,  and  afk 
a  lady  if  ihe  will  buy  pomatum  tofmear  her 
hair  with.  Such  is  however  the  refemblance 
between  their  tongue  and  ours,  that  the  Ita- 
lians proteft  they  cannot  feparate  either  the, 
ideas  or  the  words. 

I  muft  mention  our  going  to  the  poft-office 
with  a   Venetian    friend  to   look  for  letters, 
where,  after  receiving  fome  furly  replies  from 
the  people  who  attended  there,    our  laquais 
de  place  reminded  my  male  companions  that 
they  fhould   ftand  uncovered.     Finding  them 
however   fomewhat  dilatory  in  their  obedi- 
ence, a  rough  fellow  {hatched   the  hat  from 
one    of  their   heads,     faying,     "  Dwit  you 
know,  Szrt    that  you    are  ftanding  before  the 
emperors  officers?" — "  I  know"  replied  the 
prompt  Italian,  "  that  we  are  come  to  a  coun- 
try where  people  wear  their  hats  in  the  church  ^ 
fo  need  not  wonder  we  are  bid  to  take  them  • 
off  in  the  poft-office.^     Well,  where  rulers  are 
laid  or  fuppofed  to  be  tyrannical,  it  is  rational 
that  good  provifion  fhould  be  made  for  arms; 
otherwife  defpotifm    dwindles  into  nugatory 
pompoufnefs  and  airy  (how  ;  Profpero's  em- 
pire in  the  enchanted  ifland  of  Shakefpeare  is 
not  more  fhadowy  than  the  fight  of  prince- 
VOL.  II.  U  '    dom 


29o  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

dom  united  with  impotence  of  power  : — fuch 
have  I  feen,  but  fuch  is  not  the  character  of 
Keyfar's  dominion.  The  arfenal  here  is  the 
fined  thing  in  the  world  I  fuppofe ;  it  grieved 
me  to  feel  the  ideas  of  London  and  Venice 
fade  before  it  fo ;  but  the  enormous  fize  and 
folidity  of  the  quadrangle,  the  quantity  and 
difpofition  of  the  cannon,  bombs,  and  mortars,, 
filled  my  mind  with  enforced  refpecl.,  arid 
{hook  my  nerves  with  the  thought  of  what 
might  follow  fuch  dreadful  preparation. 

Nothing  can  in  facSt  be  grander  than  the 
fight  of  the  Auftrian  eagle,  all  made  out  in 
arms,  eight  ancient  heroes  fternly  frowning 
round  it.  The  choice  has  fallen  on  Casfar, 
Pompey,  Alexander,  Scipio,  Hannibal,  Fa- 
bius  Maximus,  Cyrus,  and  Themiflocles.  I 
ftiould  have  thought  Pyrrhus  worthier  the 
company  of  all  the  reft  than  this  laft-named 
hero  ;  but  petty  criticifms  are  much  lefs  wor- 
thy a  place  in  Vienna's  arfenal,  which  im- 
preffes  one  with  a  very  majeftic  idea  of  Impe- 
rial greatnefs. 

On  the  firft  of  November  we  tried  at  an 

excurfion  into  Hungary,  where  we  meant  to 

have  furveyed  the  Danube  in  .all  its  dignity  at 

Prefburgh,  and  have  heard  Hayden  at  Efther- 

4  hazie. 


JOURNEY  THROUGH   GERMANY.     291 

hazie.     But  my  being  unluckily  taken  ill,  pre- 
vented us  from  profecuting  our  journey  fur- 
ther  than  a   wretched  village,  where   I  was 
laid  up  with  a  fever,  and  difappointed   my 
company  of  much  hoped-for   entertainment. 
It  was  curious  however  to  find  one's  felf  within 
a  few  pofts  of  the  places  one  had  read  fo  much 
of;  and   the  words  Route   de  Belgrade  upon 
a  finger-port  gave  me  fenfations  of  diftance 
never  felt  before.     The  comfortable  fight  of  a 
proteftant  chapel  near  me  made  much  amends 
however.     The  officiating  priefts  were  of  the 
Moravian  fe£t  it  feems,  and  dear  Mr.   Hut- 
ton's  image  rufhed  upon  my  mind.     A  burial 
pafling  by  my  windows,  ftruck   me  as  very 
extraordinary  :  not  one  follower  or  even  bearer 
being   drefTed  in   black,    but  all  with   green 
robes  trimmed    with   dark  brown   furs,    not 
robes  neither;  but  like  long  coats  down  to  the 
men's  heels,  cut  in  fkirts,  and  trimmed  up 
thofe  fkirts  as  well  as  round  the  bottom  with 
fur. 

It  was  a  melancholy  country  that  we 
pa(Ted  through,  very  bleak  and  difmal,  and  I 
truft  would  not  have  mended  upon  us  had  we 
gone  further.  The  few  people  one  fees  are  all 
ignorant,  and  can  all  fpeak  Latin — -fuch  a$it 
U  2 


29*  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

•is — very  fluently.  I  have  lived  with  many 
very  knowing  people  who  never  could  fpeak 
it  with  any  fluency  at  all.  Such  is  life  ! — and 
fuch  is  learning!  I  long  to  talk  about  the 
fheep  and  fwine :  they  feem  very  worthy  of 
obfervation  ;  the  latter  large  and  finely  ftiaped, 
of  the  old  favage  race  ;  one  fancies  them  like 
thofe  Eumaeus  tended,  and  perhaps  they  are 
fo ;  with  tufks  of  fmgular  beauty  and  whitenefs, 
which  the  uniformly  brown  colour  of  the 
creature  {hews  off*  to  much  advantage  ;  amidft 
his  dark  curls,  waving  all  over  his  high  back 
and  long  fides,  in  the  manner  of  a  curl-pated 
baby  in  England,  only  that  the  laft  is  com- 
monly fair  and  blonde. 

The  fheep  are  fpotted  like  our  pigs,  but 
prettier  ;  black  and  yellow  like  a  tortoife-fhell 
cat,  with  horns  as  long  as  thofe  of  any  he- 
goat  I  ever  faw,  but  very  different;  thefe 
animals  carrying  them  ftraight  upright  like  an 
antelope,  and  they  are  of  a  fpiral  ihape.  Our 
mutton  meantime  is  deteftable  ;  but  here  are 
incomparable  fim,  carp  large  as  imall  Severn 
falmon,  and  they  bring  them  to  table  cut  in 
pounds,  and  the  joul  for  a  handfome  dim.  I 
only  wonder  one  has  never  heard  of  any  an- 
cient or  any  modern  gluttons  driving  away  to 

Prefburg 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   GERMANY.    293 

Prefburg  or  Buda,  for  the  fake  of  eating  a 
fine  Danube  carp. 

With  regard  to  men  and  women  in  Hun- 
gary, they  are  not  thickly  fcattered,  but  their 
lamentations  are  loud  ;  the  emperor  having 
refumed  all  the  privileges  granted  them  by 
Maria  Therefa  in  the  year  1740,  or  there- 
abouts, when  diftrefs  drove  her  to  fhelter  in 
that  country,  and  has  prohibited  the  import- 
tion  of  fait  herrings  which  ufed  to  corne  duty 
free  from  Amfterdam,  fo  that  their  fafts  are 
rendered  incommodious  from  the  afperity  of 
the  foil,  which  produces  very  little  vegetable 
food. 

Ground  fquirrels  are  frequent  in  the  forefts 
here ;  but  without  Pennant's  Synopfis  I  never 
remember  the  Linnsean  names  of  quadrupeds, 
fo  can  get  no  information  of  the  animal  called 
a  glutton  in  Englifh,  whofe  fkin  I  fee  in  every 
fur-fhop,  and  who,  I  fancy,  inhabits  our 
Hungarian  woods. 

The  Imperial  collection  of  pictures  here  is 
really  a  magnificent  repofitory  of  Italian  tafte, 
Flemifh  colouring,  and  Dutch  exactnefs  :  in 
which  the  Baptift,  by  Giulio  Romano,  the 
crucifixion  by  Vandyke,  and  the  phyfician 
U  3  holding 


294  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

holding  up  a  bottle  to  the  light  by  Gerard 
Douw,  are  great  examples. 

One  does  not  in  thefe  countries  look  out  par- 
ticularly for  the  works  of  Roman  or  Bologuefe 
mafters  ;  but  I  remember  a  wonderful  Caracci 
at  Munich,  worthy  a  firft  place  even  in  the 
Zampieri  palace  ;  the  fubject,  Venus  fitting 
under  a  great  tree  diverting  herfelf  with  fee- 
ing a  fcuffle  between  the  two  boys  Cupid  and 
Anteros. 

In  the  gallery  here  at  Vienna,  many  of  the 
pictures  have  been  handled  a  good  deal ;  one 
is  dazzled  with  the  brilliancy  of  thefe  power- 
ful colourifts  :  and  here  is  a  David  Teniers 
furprifmgly  natural,  of  Abraham  offering  up 
Ifaac ;  a  glorious  Pordenone  reprefenting 
Santa  Juftina,  reminded  me  of  her  fine  church 
at  Padua,  and  bis  centurion  at  Cremona, 
which  I  know  not  who  could  excel ;  and  here 
is  Furino's  Sigifmunda  to  be  feen,  the  fame 
or  a  duplicate  of  that  fold  at  Sir  Luke 
Schaub's  fale  in  London  about  thirty  years 
ago,  and  called  Correggio.  I  have  feen 
it  at  Merriworth  too,  if  not  greatly  mif- 
taken.  The  price  it  went  for  in  Lang- 
ford's  auction-room  I  cannot  furely  forget, 
it  was  three  thoufand  pounds,  or  tbeyfaidfu, 

I  will 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    GERMANY.    295 

I  will  only  add  a  word  of  a  Dutch  girl  re- 
prefenting  Herodias,  and  fo  lively  in  its  co- 
louring, that  I  think  the  king  would  have 
denied  her  who  refembled  it  nothing,  had  he 
been  a  native  of  Amfterdam.  A  Mount 
Calvary  painted  by  the  fame  hand  is  very 
ftriking,  with  a  crowd  of  people  gathered 
about  the  crofs,  and  men  felling  cakes  to  the 
mob,  as  if  at  a  fair  or  horfe-race:  two 
young  peafants  at  fifty-cuffs  upon  the  fore 
ground  quarrelling,  as  it  mould  feem,  about 
the  propriety  of  our  Saviour's  execution. 

But  I  have  this  day  heard  fo  many  and  fuch 
interefling  particulars  concerning  the  empe- 
ror, that  I  mould  not  forgive  myfelf  if  I  failed 
to  record  and  relate  them,  the  lefs  becaufe 
my  authority  was  particularly  good,  and  the 
anecdotes  fingular  and  pleafing. 

He  rifes  then  at  five  o'clock  every  morning, 
even  at  this  iharp  feafon,  writes  in  private  till 
nine,  takes  fome  refremment  then,  and  im- 
mediately after  calls  his  minifters,  and  em- 
ploys the  time  till  one  profefledly  in  ftate 
affairs,  rides  out  till  three,  returns  and  ftudies 
alone,  letting  the  people  bring  his  dinner  at 
the  appointed  hour,  chufes  out  of  all  the 
things  they  bring  him  one  difli,  and  fets  it 
Q  4  oa 


296  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

on  the   flove  to    keep  hot,    eating  it  when 
nature  calls  for  food,   but   never  detaining  a 
fervant  in  the  room  to  wait  ;    at  five  he  goes 
to  the  Corridor  juft  near  his  own  apartment, 
\vhere   poor  and  rich,  fmall  and  great,  have 
accefs  to  his  perfon  at  pleafure,  and  often  get 
him   to   arbitrate  their  law-fuits,  and  decide 
their  domeftic  differences,  as  nothing  is  more 
agreeable  to  him  than  finding   himfelf  confi- 
dered  by  his  people  as  their  father,  and  dif- 
penfer  of  juftice  over  all  his  extenfive  domi- 
nions.    His  attention  to  the  duties  he  has  im- 
poied  upon  himfelf  is  fo  great,  that,  in  order 
to   maintain  a  pure  impartiality  in  his  mind 
towards  every  claimant,  he  fuffers  no  man  or 
woman  to  have  any  influence  over  him,   and 
forbears  even  the  flight  gratification  of  fond- 
ling a  dog,  left  it  fliould  take  up  too  much  of 
his  time.     The  emperor  is  a  ftranger  upon 
principle  to  the  joys  of  confidence  and  friend- 
fhip,  but  cultivates  the  acquaintance  of  many 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  at  whofe  houfes  (when 
they  fee  company)  he  drops  in,  and  fpends 
the  evening  cheerfully  in  cards  or  converfa- 
tion,  putting  no  man  under  the  leaft  reftraint; 
and  if  he  fees  a  new  comer  in  look  difcon- 
certed,  goes  up  to  him  and  fays  kindly,  "  Di- 
vert 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   GERMANY.    297 

vert  yourfelf  your  own  way,  good  Sir;  and  do 
not  let  me  difturb  you."     His  coach  is  like  the 
commoneft  gentleman's  of  Vienna  ;    his  fer- 
vants.  diftinguimed  only  by  the  plainnefs  of 
their  liveries ;  and,  left  their  infolence  might 
make  his  company  troublefome  to  the  houfes 
where  he  vifits,  he  leaves  the  carriage  in  the 
ftreet,  and  will  not  even  be  driven  into  the 
court-yard,  where  other  equipages  and  foot- 
men wait.  A  large  dim  of  hot  chocolate  thick- 
ened  with   bread    and  cream    is  a  common 
afternoon's  regale  here,  and  the  emperor  often 
takes  one,    obferving  to  the   miftrefs  of  the 
houfe  how  acceptable  fuch  a  meal  is  to  him 
after  fo  wretched  a  dinner. 

A  few  mornings  ago  mowed  his  character  in 
a  ftrong  light.  Some  poor  women  were  coming 
down  the  Danube  on  a  float,  the  planks  fepa- 
rated,  and  they  were  in  danger  of  drowning; 
as  it  was  very  early  in  the  day,  and  no  one  awake 
upon  the  more  except  a  fawyer  that  was  cut- 
ting wood  ;  who,  not  being  able  to  obtain 
from  his  phlegmatic  neighbours  that  afliftance 
their  cafe  immediately  required,  ran  directly 
to  call  the  emperor  who  he  knew  would  be 
ftirring,  and  who  came  flying  to  give  that 
fielp  which  from  fome  happy  accident  was  no 

longer 


298  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

longer  wanted  :  but  Jofeph  loft  no  good  hu- 
mour on  the  occafion ;  on  the  contrary,  he  con- 
gratulated the  women  on  their  deliverance, 
praifing  at  the  fame  time  and  rewarding  the 
fellow  for  having  difturbed  him. 

My  informer  told  me  likewife,  that  if  two 
men  difpute  about  any  matter  till  mifchief  is 
expected,  the  wife  of  one  of  them  will  often 
cry  out, "Come,  have  done,  have  done  directly, 
or  I'll  call  our  mafter,  and  he'll  make  you  have 
done."  Now  is  it  fair  not  to  do  every  thing  but 
adore  a  fovereign  like  this  ?  when  we  know  that 
if  fuch  tales  were  told  us  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  or 
TitusVefpafian,  it  would  be  our  delight  to  repeat, 
our  favourite  learning  to  read  of  them.  Such 
conduct  would  ferve  fucceeding  princes  for 
models,  nor  could  the  weight  of  a  dozen 
centuries  fmother  their  ftill  rifing  fame.  Yet 
is  not  my  heart  perfuaded  that  the  reputation 
of  Jofeph  the  Second  will  be  configned  im- 
maculate from  age  to  age,  like  that  of  thefe 
immortal  worthies,  though  dearly  purchafed 
by  the  lofs  of  eafe  and  pleafure ;  while  neither 
the  mitred  prelate  nor  the  blamelefs  puritan 
purfue  with  bleflings  a  heart  unawed  by  fplen- 
dour,  unfoftened  by  fimplicity  ;  a  hand 
ftretched  forth  rather  to  difpenfe  juftice,  than 
opening  fpontaneoufly  to  diftribute  charity. 

To 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    GERMANY.    299 

To  fpeak  lefs  folemnly,  if  men  were  nearer 
than  they  are  to  perfect  creamy,  abfolute 
monarchy  would  be  the  moft  perrecT:  form  of 
government,  for  the  will  of  the  prince  could 
never  deviate  from  propriety  ;  but  if  one  king 
can  fee  all  with  his  own  eyes,  and  hear  all 
with  his  own  ears,  no  fuccefTor  will  ever  be 
able  to  do  the  fame  ;  and  it  is  like  giving 
Harrifon  1 0,000 1.  for  finding  the  longitude^ 
to  commend .  a  perfon  for  having  hit  on  the 
right  way  of  governing  a  great  nation,  while 
his  fcience  is  incommunicable,  and  his  powers 
of  execution  muft  end  with  his  life. 

The  fociety  here  is  charming ;  Sherlock 
fays,  that  he  who  does  not  like  Vienna  is  his 
own  fatirift ;  I  (hall  leave  others  to  be  mine. 
The  ladies  here  feemvery  highly  accomplished, 
and  fpeak  a  great  variety  of  languages  with 
facility,  ftudying  to  adorn  the  converfation 
with  every  ornament  that  literature  can  be- 
flovv  ;  nor  do  they  appear  terrified  as  in  Lon- 
don, left  pedantry  mould  be  imputed  to  them, 
for  venturing  fometimes  to  u1e  in  company 
that  knowledge  they  have  acquired  in  pri- 
vate by  diligent  application.  Here  alfo  are 
to  be  feen  young  unmarried  women  once 
again  :  muTes,  who  wink  at  eaph  other,  and 

titter 


300  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

titter  in  corners  at  what  is  pafling  in  the 
rooms,  putjlf  or  private :  I  had  lived  fo  long 
away  ftopBfQb'ew>  that  I  had  half  forgotten 
their  exiftence. 

The  hories  here  are  trimmed  at  the  heels, 
and  led  about  in  body  clothes  like  ours  in 
England ;  but  their  drawing  is  ill  managed,  no 
fhafts  ibmehow  but  a  pole,  which,  when  there 
is  one  horfe  only,  looks  awkward  and  badly 
contrived,  Beafts  of  various  kinds  plowing  to- 
gether has  a  ftrange  look,  and  the  ox  har- 
nefled  up  like  a  hunter  in  a  phaeton  cuts  a 
comical  figure  enough.  One  need  no  longer  fay, 
Opt  at  epbippia  bos  piger  *  ;  but  it  is  very  filly, 
as  no  ufe  can  be  thus  made  of  that  ftrength 
•which  lies  only  in  his  head  and  horns. 
Plenty  of  wood  makes  the  Germans  profufely 
elegant  in  their  pales,  hurdles,  &c.  which 
give  an  air  of  comfort  and  opulence,  and 
tnake  the  beft  compenfation  a  cold  climate  can 
make  for  the  hedges  of  jeflamine  and  medlar 
flowers,  which  I  mall  fee  no  more. 

Our  architecture  here  can  hardly  be  exped- 
ed  to  pleafe  an  eye  made  faftidious  from  the 
contemplation  of  Michael  Angelo's  works  at 
Rome,  or  Palladio's  at  Venice  ;  nor  will  Ger-» 

*  The  lazy  ox  for  trappings  Cghs, 

man 


JOURNEY    THROUGH  GERMANY.    301 

man  mufic  much  delight  thofe  who  have  been 
long  accuftomed  to  more  fimple  melody, 
though  intrinfic  merit  and  complicated  excel- 
lence will  always  deferve  the  higheft  note  of 
praife.  Whoever  takes  upon  him  to  under-rate 
that  which  no  one  tan  obtain  without  infinite 
labour  and  ftudy,  will  ever  be  cenfured,  and 
juftly,  for  refufing  the  reward  due  to  deep 
refearch  ;  but  if  a  man's  tafte  leads  him  to  like 
Cyprus  wine,  let  him  drink  that,  and  content 
hirafelf  with  commending  the  old  bocL 

Apropos,  we  hear  thatSaaJbitu,  theMetaftafio 
of  mufical  compofers,  is  dead  ;  but  nobody  at 
Vienna  cares  about  his  compofitions.  Our 
Italian  friends  are  more  candid  ;  they  are 
always  talking  in  favour  of  Bach  and  Brug- 
huel,  Handel  and  Rubens. 

The  cabinet  of  natural  hiftory  is  exceed- 
ingly fine,  and  the  rooms  fingularly  well  dif- 
pofed.  There  are  more  cameos  at  Bologna, 
and  one  fuperior  fpecimen  of  native  gold  : 
every  thing  elfe  I  believe  is  better  here,  and 
fuch  opals  did  I  never  fee  before,  no  not  at 
Loretto  :  the  petrified  lemon  and  artichoke 
have  no  equals,  and  a  brown  diamond 
was  new  to  me  to-day.  A  fpecimen  of  iea- 
falt  filled  with  air  bubbles  like  the  rings  one 
3  buys 


301  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

buys  at  Vicenza,  is  worth  going  a  long  way 
to  look  at;  but  the  gentleman  at  Munich, 
who  fhewed  us  the  Virgin  Mary  in  a  cobweb, 
had  a  piece  of  red  filver  mot  out  into  a  ruby 
like  cryftal,  more  extraordinary  than  any  mi- 
neral production  I  have  feen.  Our  attention 
was  caught  by  Maria  Therefa's  bouquet,  but 
one  cannot  forget  the  pearls  belonging  to  the 
electrefs  of  Bavaria. 

What  feemed,  however,  moft  to  charm  the 
people  who  fhewed  the  cabinet,  was  a  fnufF- 
box  confirming  of  various  gems,  none  bigger 
than  a  barley-corn,  each  of  prodigious  value, 
and  the  workmanfhip  of  more,  every  fquare 
being  inlaid  fo  neatly,  and  no  precious  ftone 
repeated,  though  the  number  is  no  lefs  than 
one  hundred  and  eighty-three;  a  falfe  bottom 
befides  of  gold,  opening  with  a  fpring  touch, 
and  difcovering  a  written  catalogue  of  the 
jewels  in  the  fined  hand-writing,  and  the  fmall- 
eft  poffible.  This  was  to  me  a  real  curiofity, 
afforded  a  new  and  fingular  proof  of  that 
aftonifhing  power  of  eye,  and  delicacy  of 
manual  operation,  feconded  by  a  patient  and 
perfevering  attention  to  things  frivolous  in 
therhfelves,  which  will  be  for  ever  alike  ne- 
glected 


JOURNEY   THROUGH    GERMANY.     303 

gle&ed  by  the  fire  of  Italian  genius,  and  dif- 
dained  by  the  dignity  of  Britifh  faience. 

We  have  feen  other  fort  of  things  to-day 
however.  The  Hungarian  and  Bohemian 
robes  pleafed  me  beft,  and  the  wild  unfet 
jewels  in  the  diadem,  of  Tranfylvania  im- 
prefled  me  with  a  valuable  idea  of  Gothic 
greatnefs.  The  fervice  of  gold  plate  too  is 
very  grand  from  its  old-fafhioned  folidity.  I 
liked  it  better  than  I  did  the  fnufF-box ;  and 
here  is  a  difh  in  ivory  puts  one  in  mind  of  no- 
thing but  Achilles'smield,  fo  worked  is  its  broad 
margin  with  miniature  reprefentations  of  bat- 
tles, landfcapes,  &c.  three  dozen  different  ftories 
round  the  difh,  one  might  have  looked  at  it 
with  microfcopes  for  a  week  together.  The 
porcelane  plates  have  been  painted  to  ridicule 
Raphael's  pots  at  Loretto  I  fancy  ;  Julio  Ro- 
mano's manner  is  comically  parodied  upon 
one  of  them. 

Prince  Lichtenftein's  pictures  are  charm- 
ing ;  a  SaJmacis  in  the  water  by  Albano  is 
the  befl  work  of  that  mafter  I  ever  faw, 
not  diffufed  as  his  works  commonly  are,  but 
all  collected  fomehow,  and  fine  in  a  way  I 
cannot  exprefs  for  want  of  more  knowledge ; 
very,  very  fine  it  is  however,  and  full  of  ex- 
preflion  and  character.  The  Caracci  fchool 

again. 


304  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

again. — Here  is  the  whole  hiftcry  of  Decius 
by  Rubens  too,  wonderfully  learned  ;  and  an 
aflumption  of  the  Virgin  fo  like  Mrs.  Pritchard 
our  famous  aftrefs,  no  portrait  ever  reprefent- 
ed  her  fo  well.  A  St.  Sebaftian  divinely 
beautiful,  by  Vandyke ;  and  a  girl  playing  oil 
the  guitar,  which  you  may  run  round  almoftj 
by  the  coarfe  but  natural  hand  of  Caravagio. 

The  library  is  new  and  fplendid,  and  they 
buy  books  for  it  very  liberally.  The  learned 
and  amiable  Abbe  Denys  fhewed  me  a  thou- 
fand  unmerited  civilities,  was  charmed  with 
the  character  of  Dr.  Johnfon,  arid  delighted 
with  the  ftory  of  his  converfation  at  Rouen 
with  Monf.  TAbbe  Roffette.  This  gentle- 
man feems  to  love  England  very  much,  and 
Englifh  literature  ;  fpoke  of  Humphry  Pri- 
deaux  with  refpedt,  and  has  his  head  full  of 
Offian's  poetry,  of  which  he  can  repeat  whole 
pages.  He  fhewed  me  a  fragment  of  Livy 
written  in  the  fifth  century,  a  pfalter  and 
creed  beautifully  illuminated  of  the  year 
nine  hundred,  and  a  large  portion  of  St. 
Mark's  gofpel  on  blue  paper  of  the  year  three 
hundred  and  feven.  A  Bibbia  de  Poveri  too, 
as  the  Italians  call  it,  curious  enough ;  the 
figures  all  engraved  on  wood,  and  only  a  text 
at  bottom  to  explain  them. 

Wincef- 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      305 

Winceflaus  marked  every  book  he  ever  pof- 
fefled,  it  feems,  with  the  five  vowels  on  the  back ; 
and  almoft  every  one  with  fome  little  miniature 
made  by  himfelf,  recording  his  efcape  from 
confinement  at  Prague  in  Bohemia,  where  the 
wamer-woman  having  aflifted  him  to  get  out 
%  of  prifon  under  pretence  of  bathing,  he  has  been 
very  ftudious  to  regifter  the  event ;  fo  much 
fo  that  even  on  the  margins  of  his  bible  he 
has  been  tempted  to  paint  paft  fcenes  that 
had  better  have  been  blotted  from  his  me- 
mory. 

The  Livy  which  learned  men  have  hoped 
to  find  fafe  in  the  feraglio  of  Conftantinople, 
was  burned  by  their  late  fultan  Amurath,  our 
Abbe  Denys  tells  me;  the  motive  fprung  from 
miftaken  piety,  but  the  efFedt  is  to  be  lamented. 
He  mewed  me  an  Alcoran  in  extremely  fmall 
characters,  furprifingly  fo  indeed,  taken  out 
of  a  Turkifh  officer's  pocket  when  John  Sobi- 
efky  raifed  the  fiege  of  this  city  in  the  year 
1590,  and  a  preacher  took  for  his  text  the 
Sunday  after,  "  There  'was  a  man  fent  from 
God  •whofe  name  •was  John."  I  was  much 
amufed  with  a  fight  of  the  Mexican  MSS  and 
Peruvian  quipos ;  nor  are  the  Turkifh  figures 

VOL.  II.  X  of 


306  OBSERVATIONS   IN   A 

of  Adam  and  Eve,  our  Saviour  and  his  md- 
ther,  lefs  remarkable  ;  but  Mahomet  furround- 
ed  by  a  glory  about  his  head,  a  veil  concealing 
his  face  as  too  bright  for  infpeclion,  exceeded 
all  the  reft. 

Here  are  many  ladies  of  fafhion  in  this 
town  very  eminent  for  their  niufical  abilities, 
particularly  Mefdemoifelles  de  Martinas,  one  of 
whom  is  member  of  the  Academies  of  Berlin 
and  Bologna :  the  celebrated  Metaftafio  died  in 
their  houfe,  after  having  lived  with  the  family 
fixty-five  years  more  or  lefs.    They  fet  his  poe- 
try and  ling  it  very  finely,  appearing  to  recol- 
lect his  converfation  and  friendship,  with  infinite 
tendernefs  and  delight.     He  was  to  have  been 
prefented  to  the  Pope  the  very  day  he  died, 
I  underftand,  and  in  the  delirium  which  im- 
mediately preceded  diflblution  he  raved  much 
of  the  fuppofed  interview.    Unwilling  to  hear 
of  death,   no  one  was  ever  permitted  even  to 
mention  it  before  him ;  and  nothing  put  him, 
fo  certainly  out  of  humour,  as  rinding  that 
rule  tranfgrefled  even  by  his  nearefl  friends. 
Even  the  fmall-pox  was  not  to  be  named  in 
his  prefence,  and  whoever  did  name  that  dif- 
order,  though  unconfcious  of  the  offeace  he 
3  had 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     307 

had  given,  Metaftafio  would  fee  him  no  more. 
The  other  peculiarities  1  could  gather  from 
Mifs  Martinas  were  thefe  :  That  he  had  con- 
tentedly lived  half  a  century  at  Vienna,  without 
ever  even  wifhing  to  learn  its  language;  that  he 
had  never  given  more  than  five  guineas  Englifli 
money  in  all  that  time  to  the  poor ;  that  he 
always  fat  in  the  fame  feat  at  church,  but  ne- 
ver paid  for  it,  and  that  nobody  dared  afk 
him  for  the  trifling  fum  ;  that  he  was  grate- 
ful and  beneficent  to  the  friends  who  began 
by  being  his  protectors,  but  ended  much  his 
debtors,  for  folid  benefits  as  well  as  for  elegant 
prefents,  which  it  was  his  delight  to  be  per- 
petually making  them,  leaving  to  them  at  laft 
all  he  had  ever  gained  without  the  charge 
even  of  a  fingle  legacy ;  obferving  in  his  will 
that  it  was  to  them  he  owed  it,  and  other 
conduct  would  in  him  have  been  injuftice. 
Such  were  the  fentiments,  and  fuch  the  con- 
ducl: of  this  great  poet,  of  whom  it  is  of  little 
confequence  to  tell,  that  he  never  changed  the 
fafhion  of  his  wig,  the  cut  or  colour  of  his 
coat,  fo  that  his  portrait  taken  not  very  long 
ago  looks  like  thofe  of  Boileau  or  Moliere- 
at  the  head  of  their  works.  His  life  was 
arranged  with  fuch  methodical  exactnefs,  that 
X  2  he 


3o8  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

he  rofe,  ftudied,  chatted,  flept,  and  dined  at  the 
fame  hours  for  fifty  years 'together,  enjoying 
uninterrupted  health,  which  probably  gave  him 
that  happy  fweetnefs  of  temper,  or  habitual  gen- 
tlenefs  of  manners,  which  never  fuffered  itfelf 
to  be  ruffled,  but  when  his  fole  injunction  was 
forgotten,  and  the  death  of  any  perfon  whatever 
was  unwittingly  mentioned  before  him.  No 
fplicitation  had  ever  prevailed  on  him  to  dine 
from  home,  nor  had  his  neareft  intimates  ever 
feen  him  cat  more  than  a  bifcuit  with  his  le- 
monade, every  meal  being  performed  with 
even  myfterious  privacy  to  the  laft.  When 
his  end  approached  by  fteps  fo  very  rapid,  hre 
did  not  in  the  leaft  fufpect  that  it  was  coming; 
and  Mademoifelle  Martinas  has  fcarcely  yet 
done  rejoicing  in  the  thought  that  he  efcaped 
the  preparations  he  fo  dreaded.  His  early 
paffion  for  a  celebrated  finger  is  well  known 
upon  the  continent ;  fmce  that  affair  finifhed, 
all  his  pleafures  have  been  confined  to  mufic 
and  converfation.  He  had  the  fatisfadtron  of 
feeing  the  feventieth  edition  of  his  works  I 
think  they  faid,  but  am  amamed  to  copy  out 
the  number  from  my  own  notes,  it  feems  fo 
very  ftrange  ;  and  the  delight  he  took  in 
hearing  the  lady  he  lived  with  (ing  his  fongs>: 
4  was 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      309 

was  vifible  to  every  one.  An  Italian  Abate 
here  faid,  comically  enough,  "  Oh !  he  looked 
like  a  man  in  the  ftate  of  beatification  always 
when  Mademoifelle  de  Martinas  accompanied 
his  verfes  with  her  fine  voice  and  brilliant 
finger.  The  father  of  Metaftafio  was  a  gold- 
fmith  at  Rome,  but  his  fon  had  fo  devoted 
himfelfto  the  family  he  lived  with,  that  he 
refufed  to  hear,  and  took  pains  not  to  know, 
whether  he  had  in  his  latter  days  any  one 
relation  left  in  the  world.  On  a  character  fo 
fingular  I  leave  my  readers  to  make  their  own 
obfervations  and  reflections. 

Au  rejle^  as  the  French  fay  ;  I  have  no  no- 
tion that  Vienna,  fempre  ventofo  o  ve/eno/b  *, 
can  be  a  very  wholefome  place  to  live  in  ;  the 
double  windows,  double  feather-beds,  "&c.  in 
a  room  without  a  chimney,  is  furely  ill  con- 
trived ;  and  fleeping  fmothered  up  in  down  fo, 
like  a  hydrophobous  patient  in  fome  parts  of 
Ireland,  is  not  particularly  agreeable,  though 
I  begin  to  like  it  better  than  I  did.  All  ex- 
ternal air  is  (hut  out  in  fuch  a  manner  that  I 
am  frighted  left,  after  a  certain  time,  the  room 
fhould  become  like  an  exhauftcd  receiver, 

*  Ever  ftormy  or  venemous. 

X  3  while 


3io  OBSERVATIONS     IN    A 

while  the  wind  whirls  one  about  the  ftreet  in 
fuch  a  manner  that  it  is  difpleafmg  to  put  out 
one's  head ;  and  a  phyfician  from  Ragufa, 
fettled  here  told  me,  that  wounded  lungs  are 
a  common  confequence  of  the  triturated  ftons 
blown  about  here ;  and  in  fa£t  afthmas  and 
confumptions  are  their  reigning  difeafes. 

Apropos,  the  plague  is  now  raging  in  Tran-» 
fylvania  ;  how  little  fafe  fhould  we  think  our- 
felves  at  London,  were  a  diforder  fo  contagious 
known  to  be  no  farther  diftant  than  Derby  ? 
The  diftance  is  fcarcely  greater  now  from  Vienna 
to  the  place  of  diftrefs ;  yet  I  will  not  fay  we 
are  in  much  danger  to  be  fure,  for  that  per- 
petual connection  kept  up  between  all  the 
towns  and  counties  of  Great  Britain  is  un-. 
known  in  other  nations,  and  we  fhould  be  as 
many  days  going  to  Tranfylvania  from  here 
perhaps,  as  we  ihould  be  hours  running  from 
Toddenham-court  road  to  Derby, 

Sheenburn  is  pretty,  but  it  is  no  feafon  for  fee- 
ing pretty  places.  The  ftreets  of  Vienna  are  not 
pretty  at  all, God  knows;  fo  narrow,  fo  ill  built, 
fo  crowded,  many  wares  placed  upon  the  ground 
where  there  is  a  little  opening,  feems  a  ftrange 
awkward  difpofition  of  things  for  fale ;  and  the 
people  cutting  wood  in  the  ftreet  makes  one 

half 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     3n 

half  wild  when  walking ;  it  is  hardly  poffible 
to  pafs  another  ftrange  cuftom,  borrowed  from 
Italy  I  truft,  of  fhutting  up  their  fhops  in  the 
middle  of  the  day  ;  it  muft  tend,  one  would 
think,  but  little  to  the  promotion  of  that  com- 
merce which  the  fovereign  profefles  to  en- 
courage, and  I  fee  no  excufe  for  it  here  which 
can  be  made  from  heat,  gaiety,  or  devotion. 
Many  families  living  in  the  fame  houfe,  and 
at  the  entrance  of  the  apartments  belonging 
to  each,  a  ftrong  iron  gate  to  feparate  the 
refidence  of  one  fet  from  that  of  another,  has 
Jikewife  an  odd  melancholy  look,  like  that  of 
a  prifon  or  a  nunnery.  Nunneries,  however, 
here  are  none  ;  and  if  the  old  women  turned 
out  of  thofe  they  have  long  dwelt  in,  are  not 
provided  with  decent  penfions,  it  muft  furely 
diftrefs  even  the  Emperor's  cold  heart  to  fee  age 
driven  from  the  refuges  of  difappointment, 
and  forced  to  wander  through  the  world  with 
inexperience  for  its  guide,  while  youth  is  no 
longer  ledy  but  thritjl  into  temptation  by  fuch 
a  fudden  tranfjtion  from  utter  retirement  to 
open  and  bufy  life. 

We  have  been  this  morning  to  look  over 
Jus  academy  of  painting,  &c.     His  exhibition- 
room  is  neatly  kept,  and  I  dare  fay  will  pro- 
X  4  fper : 


312  OBSERVATIONS   IN   A 

fper :  the  ftudents  are  zealous  and  laborious, 
and  earneftly  defire  the  promulgation  of 
fcience :  their  collection  of  models  is  meagre, 
but  it  will  mend  by  degrees.  Perhaps  Jofeph 
the  lid.  is  the  firft  European  fovereign  who, 
eftablifhjng  a  fchool  for  painting  and  fculp- 
ture,  has  infilled  on  the  artifls  never  exercif- 
ing  their  fkill  upon  any  fubject  which  could 
hurt  any  perfon's  delicacy  ; — an  example  well 
worthy  honeft  praife  and  fpeedy  imitation. 

The  very  few  charitable  foundations  efta- 
blifhed  at  Vienna  by  Imperial  munificence  are 
well  managed;  their  paucity  is  accounted  for 
by  the  recollection  of  many  abufes  confequent 
on  the  late  Emprefs's  bounty  ;  her  fori  there- 
fore took  all  the  annuities  away,  which  he 
thought  her  tendernefs  had  been  duped  out 
of;  but  let  it  be  remembered  that  when  he 
rides  or  walks  in  a  morning,  he  always  takes 
with  him  a  hundred  ducats,  out  of  which  he 
never  brings  any  home,  but  gives  in  private 
donations  what  he  knows  to  be  well  beftow- 
ed,  without  the  orientation  of  affecled  gene- 
rofity:  it  is  not  in  rewards  for  pad  iervices 
perhaps,  nor  in  public  and  {lately  inftitutions, 
as  I  am  told  here,  that  this  prince's  liberalities 
are  to  be  looked  for  ;  yet — 

In 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     313 

In  Mis'ry's  darkeft  caverns  known, 

His  ufeful  care  is  ever  nigh ; 
Where  hopelefs  Anguifh  pours  her  groan, 

And  lonely  Want  retires  to  die. 

Tomorrow  (23d  of  November)  we  venture 
to  leave  Vienna  and  proceed  northwards,  as 
I  long  to  fee  the  Drefden  gallery.  Here 
every  thing  appears  to  me  a  caricatura  of 
London  ;  the  language  like  ours,  but  coarfer; 
the  plays  like  ours,  but  duller ;  the  ftreets  at 
night  lighted  up,  riot  like  ours  now,  but  very 
like  what  they  were  thirty  or  forty  years 
ago. 

Among  the  people  I  have  feen  here,  Ma- 
demoifelle  Paradies,  the  blind  performer  on 
the  harpfichord,  interefted  me  very  much ; 
— and  fhe  liked  England  fo,  and  the  King 
and  Queen  were  fo  kind  to  her,  and  fhe  was 
fo  happy,  fhe  faid  ! — While  life  and  its  vex- 
ations feem  to  opprefs  fuch  numbers  of  heart?, 
and  cloud  fuch  variety  of  otherwife  agreeable 
faces,  one  muft  go  to  a  blind  girl  to  hear  of 
happinefs,  it  feems  !  But  fhe  has  wonderful 
talents  for  languages  as  well  as  mufic,  and  has 
learned  the  Englifh  pronunciation  moft  fur- 
prifingly.  It  is  a  fouthing  fight  when  one 
finds  the  mind  compcnfate  for  the  body's  de- 
feels  : 


3H  OBSERVATIONS   IN   A 

fects :  I  took  great  delight  in  the  converfatioj* 
of  Mademoifelle  Paradies. 

The  collection  of  rarities,  particularly  an 
Alexander's  head  worthy  of  Capo  di  Monte, 
now  in  the  pcfleffion  of  Madame  de  Heffe,  be- 
came daily  more  my  ftudy,  as  I  received  more 
and  more  civilities  from  the  charming  family 
at  whofe  houfe  it  refides  ;  there  are  fome  very 
fine  cameos  in  it,  and  a  great  variety  of  mif- 
cellaneous  curiofities. 

So  different  are  the  cuftoms  here  and  at 
Venice,  that  the  German  ladies  offer  you 
chocolate  on  the  fame  falver  with  coffee,  of  an 
evening,  and  fill  up  both  with  milk  j  faying 
that  you  may  have  the  latter  quite  black  if 
you  chufe  it — "  'Tout  no'ir^  Monfieur^  a  la  Vene- 
tienne" — adding  their  beft  advice  not  to  rifque 
a  practice  fo  unwholefome.  While  their  care 
upon  that  account  reminds  me  chiefly  of  a 
friend,  who  lives  upon  the  Grand  Canal,  that 
in  reply  to  a  long  panegyric  upon  Englifti  de- 
licacy, faid  me  would  tell  a  ftory  that  would 
prove  them  to  be  nafty  enough,  at  leaft  in 
fome  things  ;  for  that  fhe  had  actually  feen  a 
handfome  young  nobleman,  who  came  from 
London  (and  ought  to  have  known  better)^ 
fouce  fome  thick  cream  into  the  fine  clear 

coffee 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      315 

coffee  (he  prefented  him  with ;  which  every 
body  muft  confefs  to  be  vcra  porcherta ! 
a  very  piggl/h  trick  ! — So  neceflary  and  fo 
pleafing  is  conformity,  and  fo  abfurd  and  per- 
verfe  is  it  ever  to  forbear  fuch  aflimilation  of 
manners,  when  not  inconfiftent  with  the 
virtue,  honour,  or  neceflary  intereft  : — let  us 
eat  four-crout  in  Germany,  frittura  at  Milan, 
macaroni  at  Naples,  and  beef-fteaks  in  Eng- 
land, if  one  wifhes  to  pleafe  the  inhabitants 
of  either  country  ;  and  all  are  very  good,  fo  it 
is  a  flight  compliance.  Poor  Dr.  Goldfmith 
faid  once — "  I  would  advife  every  young  fel- 
Jow  fetting  out  in  life  to  love  gravy  " — and 
added,  that  he  had  formerly  feen  a  glutton's 
eldeft  nephew  difmheritcd,  becaufe  his  uncle 
never  could  perfuade  him  to  fay  he  liked 
gravy. 


316  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 


PRAGUE, 


THE  inns  between  Vienna  and  this  place 
are  very  bad;  but  we  arrived  here  fafe  the 
24th  of  November,  when  I  looked  for  little 
comfort  but  much  diverfion ;  things  turned 
out  however  exadly  the  reverfe,  and  aux 
bains  de  Prague  in  Bohemia  we  found  beds 
more  elegant,  dinners  neater  dreffed,  apart- 
ments cleaner  and  with  a  lefs  foreign  afpect, 
than  almoft  any  where  elfe.  Such  is  not 
mean  time  the  general  appearance  of  the  town 
out  of  doors,  which  is  favage  enough ;  and 
the  celebrated  bridge  fingularly  ugly  I  think, 
crowded  with  vaft  groupes  of  ill-made  ftatues, 
and  heavy  to  excefs,  though  not  incom- 
modious to  drive  over,  and  of  a  furprifing 
extent.  Thefe  German  rivers  are  magni- 
ficent, and  our  Mulda  here  (which  is  but  a 
branch  of  the  Elbe  neither)  is  refpeclable  for 
its  volume  of  water,  ufeful  for  the  fim  con- 
tained in  it,  and  lovely  in  the  windings  of  its 
courfe. 

Bohemia 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      317 

Bohemia  feems  no  badly-cultivated  coun- 
try ;  the  ground  undulates  like  many  parts  of 
Hertfordshire,  and  the  property  feems  divided 
much  in  the  fame  manner  as  about  Dunftable ; 
my  head  ran  upon  Lilly-hoo,  when  they 
{hewed  me  the  plains  of  Kolin. 

Doctor  Johnfon  was  very  angry  with  a 
gentleman  at  our  houfe  once,  I  well  remem- 
ber, for  not  being  better  company ;  and  urged 
that  he  had  travelled  into  Bohemia,  and  feen 
Prague  : — "  Surely,"  added  he,  "  the  man 
who  has  feen  Prague  might  tell  us  fomething 
new  and  fomething  ftrange,  and  not  fit  filent 
for  want  of  matter  to  put  his  lips  in  motion  !" 
Horrefco  referent- — I  have  now  been  at 
Prague  as  well  as  Doctor  Fitzpatrick,  but  have 
brought  away  nothing  very  interefting  I  fear  ; 
unlefs  that  the  floor  of  the  opera-ftage  there  is 
inlaid,  which  fo  far  as  I  have  obferved  is  a  new 
thing ;  the  cathedral  I  am  fure  is  an  old 
thing,  and  charged  with  heavy  and  ill-chofen 
ornaments,  worthy  of  the  age  in  which  it  was 
fabricated  ! — One  would  be  loth  to  fee  any 
alteration  take  place,  or  any  picture  drive  old 
Frank's  Three  Kings,  divided  into  three  com- 
partments, from  its  Jftation  over  the  high  altar. 

St, 


3i8  OBSERVATIONS   IN    A 

St.  John  Neppomucene  has  an  altar  here  all 
of  folid  filver,  very  bright  and  clean  ;  his 
having  been  flung  into  the  river  Mulda  in 
the  perfecuting  days,  holding  faft  his  crucifix 
and  his  religion,  gives  him  a  rational  title  to 
veneration  among  the  martyrs,  and  he  is 
confidered  as  the  tutelar  faint  here,  where  his 
ftatue  meets  one  at  the  entrance  of  every 
town. 

This  truly  Gothic  edifice  was  very  near 
being  deftroyed  by  the  King  of  Pruflia,  who 
bombarded  the  city  thirty-five  years  ago  ;  I 
faw  the  mark  made  by  one  ball  juft  at  the 
cathedral  door,  and  heard  with  horror  of  the 
dreadful  fiege,  when  an  egg  was  fold  for  a 
florin,  and  other  eatables  in  proportion  :  the 
whole  town  has,  in  confequence  of  that,  long 
blockade,  a  ragged  arid  half-ruined  melan- 
choly afpe£t ;  and  the  roads  round  it,  then 
broken  up,  have  fcarcely  been  mended  fmce. 

The  ladies  too  looked  more  like  mafquerad- 
ing  figures  than  any  thing  elfe,  as  they  fat 
in  their  boxes  at  the  opera,  with  rich  embroi- 
dered caps,  or  bright  pink  and  blue  fattin 
head-drefles,  with  ermine  or  fable  fronts,  a 
heavy  gold  taflel  hanging  low  down  from  the 

iefc 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     319 

left  ear,  and  no  powder;  which  gives  a  girlifh 
look,  and  reminded  me  of  afafhion  our  lower 
tradefmen  in  London  had  about  fifteen  or  " 
eighteen  years  ago,  of  dreffing  their  daugh- 
ters, from  nine  to  twelve  years  old,  in  puffed 
black  fattin  caps,  with  a  long  ear  hanging 
down  on  one  fide.  It  is  a  becoming  mode 
enough  as  the  women  wear  it  here,  but  gives 
no  idea  of  cleanlinefs ;  and  I  fuppofe  that 
whilft  finery  retains  its  power  of  ftriking,  de- 
licacy keeps  her  diftance,  nor  attempts  to 
come  in  play  till  the  other  has  failed  of  its 
effect.  Ladies  drefs  here  very  richly,  as  in- 
deed I  expected  to  find  them,  and  coloured 
filk  (lockings  are  worn  as  they  were  in  Eng- 
land till  the  days  of  the  Spedator:  — "  Thrift* 
thrift,  Horatio ;"  as  Hamlet  obferves ;  for  our 
expences  in  Great  Britain  are  infinitely  in-  • 
creafed  by  our  advancement  from  fplendor  to 
neatnefs. 

Here  every  thing  feems  at  leaft  five  cen- 
turies behind-hand,  and  religion  has  not  pu- 
rified itfelf  the  lead  in  the  world  fmce  the 
days  of  its  early  ftruggle ;  for  here  Hufs 
preached,  and  here  Jerome,  known  by  the 
name  of  Jerome  of  Prague,  firft  began  to 
project  the  fcheme  of  a  future  reformation. 

The 


320  OBSERVATIONS   IN  A 

The  Bohemians  had  indeed  been  long  before 
that  time  indulged  by  the  Popes  with  permif- 
iion  to  receive  the  cup  in  the  facrament,  a  fa- 
vour granted  no  one  elfe  ;  and  of  that  no  no- 
tice was  ever  taken,  till  further  fteps  were 
made  for  the  obtaining  many  alterations  that 
have  crept  in  fmce  that  time  in  other  nations, 
not  fo  hafty  to  do  by  violence  what  will  one 
day  be  done  of  themfelves  without  any  vio- 
lence at  all. 

I  afked  to  fee  fome  Proteftant  meeting- 
houfes,  and  was  introduced  to  a  very  pleafing- 
mannered  Livornefe,  who  fpoke  fweet  Italian, 
iand  was  minifter  to  a  little  place  of  worfhip 
which  could  not  have  contained  two  hundred 
people  at  the  moft  ;  in  fact  his  flock  were  all 
foldiers,  he  faid.  Not  a  perfon  who  could 
keep  a  (hop  was  to  be  found  of  our  perfuafion, 
nor  was  Lutheranifm  half  fo  much  detefted 
even  in  Italy,  he  faid.  Though  I  remember 
the  boys  hooting  us  at  Tivoli  too,  and  calling 
.our  Englifh  Gentlemen,  Monfieur  Dannato. 

The  library  does  not  feem  ancient,  but  the 
grave  perfon  who  {hewed  it  fpoke  very  indif- 
ferent French,  fo  that  I  could  better  truft  my 
•eyes  than  my  ears  ;  this  want  of  language  is 
terrible  ! — A  celeftial  globe  moving  by  clock- 
work 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      321 

work    concealed   within,    and    fhewing   the 
fun's  place  upon  the    ecliptic    very  exactly, 
detained  our  attention  agreeably ;  and  I  ob- 
ferved  a  polyglot  bible  printed  at  London  in 
Cromwell's  time,  with  a  compliment  to  him 
in  the  preface,  which  they  have  expunged  in 
fucceeding  editions.    A  mirTal  too  was  curious 
enough  from  its  being  decorated  with  fome 
fingular  illuminations  upon  one  leaf;  at  the 
top  of  the  page  a  figure  of  WicklifFe  is  feen, 
finking  the  flint  and  fteel ;  under  him,  in  an- 
other fmall  compartment,  Jerome  of  Prague 
blowing  tinder  to    make    his   torch  kindle; 
below  him  again  down  the  fame  fide,  Martin 
Luther,  the  flambeau  well  lighted  and  blazing 
in  his  hand ;  at  the  bottom  of  the  page  poor 
John  Hufs,  betrayed   by  the  Emperor  who 
promifed  him  protection,  and  burning  alive  at 
a  ftake,    to  the  apparent  fatisfaction  of  the 
charitable  fathers  aflembled  at  the  council  of 
Conftance.     Another  curiofity  mould  be  re- 
membered ;  the  manufcript  letter  from  Zifca, 
the  famous  Proteftant  general  who  headed  the 
revolters  in    1420  ;  I  was  amazed  to  fee  in 
how  elegant  an  Italian  hand  it  was  written  ; 
the  librarian  faid  comically  enough — "  Ay,  ay, 
VOL.  II.  Y  it 


322  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

//  begins  all  about  the  fear  of  God,  &c.  •  thofc 
fellows"  continued  he,  "  you  know^  are  al- 
ways J lire  to  be  canters  /" 

The  reigning  fovereign  has  made  few 
changes  in  church  matters  here,  except  that 
which  was  become  almoft  indifpenfable,  the 
refolution  to  have  mafs  laid  only  at  one  altar, 
inftead  of  many  at  a  time ;  the  contrary 
practice  does  certainly  difturb  devotion,  and 
produce  unavoidable  indecorums,  as  no  one 
can  tell  what  he  turns  his  back  upon,  while 
the  bell  rings  in  fo  many  places  of  a  large 
church  at  once,  and  fo  many  different  func- 
tions are  going  forward,  that  people's  atten- 
tion muft  almoft  neceflarily  be  didraded. 

The  eating  here  is  incomparable ;  I  never 
faw  fuch  poultry  even  at  London  or  Bath, 
and  there  is  a  plenty  of  game  that  amazes 
one ;  no  inn  fo  wretched  but  you  have  a 
pheafant  for  your  fupper,  and  often  partridge 
foup.  The  filh  is  carried  about  the  ftreets  in 
fo  elegant  a  ftyle  it  tempts  one ;  a  very  large 
round  bathing-tub,  as  we  mould  call  it,  let 
barrow-wife  on  two  not  very  low  wheels,  is 
eafily  pufhed  along  by  one  man,  though  full 
of  the  moil  pellucid  water,  in  which  the  carp, 

tench , 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     323 

tench,  and  eels,  are  all  leaping  alive,  to  a  fize 
and  perfection  I  am  afhamed  to  relate  ;  but 
the  tench  of  four  and  five  pounds  weight  have 
a  richnefs  and  flavour  one  had  no  notion  of 
till  we  arrived  at  Vienna,  and  they  are  the 
fame  here. 

How  trade  ftands  or  moves  in  thefe  coun- 
tries I  cannot  tell  j  there  is  great  rigour  {hewn 
at  the  cuftom-houfe  ;  but  till  the  fhopkeepers 
learn  to  keep  their  doors  open  at  lead  for  the 
whole  of  the  fnort  days,  not  ihut  them  up  fo 
and  go  to  fleep  at  one  or  two  o'clock  for  a 
couple  of  hours,  I  think  they  do  not  deferve 
to  be  difturbed  by  cuftomers  who  bring  ready 
money*  To-morrow  (3Oth  November  1786) 
we  fet  out,  wrapped  in  good  furs  and  flan- 
nels, for 


Y  a  DRESDEN] 


324  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 


DRESDEN; 

WHITHER    we    arrive    fafe   this    4th    of 
December, — 

A  wond'rous  token 

Of  Hcav'n's  kind  care,  with  bones  unbroken ! 

As  the  ingenious  Soame  Jenyns  fays  of  a  lefs 
hazardous  drive  in  a  lefs  barbarous  country  I 
hope  :  but  really  to  Englifh  paflengers  in 
Englifh  carriages,  the  road  from  Prague  hither 
is  too  bad  to  think  on  j  while  nothing  literally 
impels  one  forward  except  the  impoffibility  of 
going  back.  Lady  Mary  Wortley  fays,  her 
hufband  and  poftillions  flept  upon  the  pre- 
cipices between  Lowofitz  and  AufTig;  but 
furely  the  way  muft  have  been  much  better 
then,  as  all  the  opium  in  both  would  fcarce 
have  ftupefied  their  apprehenfions  now,  when 
a  fall  into  the  Elbe  muft  either  have  inter- 
rupted or  finilhed  their  nap  ;  becaufe  cur 
coach  was  held  up  every  ftep  of  the  journey 

by 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      325 

by  men's  hands,  while  we  walked  at  the  bot- 
tom about  feven  miles  by  the  river's  fide,  fur- 
fering  nothing  but  a  little  fatigue,  and  enjoy- 
ing the  moft  cloudlefs  beautiful  weather  ever 
feen.  The  Elbe  is  here  as  wide  I  think  as 
the  Severn  at  Gloucefter,  and  rolls  through 
the  moft  varied  and  elegant  landfcape  poffible, 
not  inferior  to  that  which  adorns  the  fides  of 
the  little  Dart  in  Devonfhire,  but  on  a  greater 
fcale ;  every  hill  crowned  with  fome  wood, 
or  ornamented  by  fome  caftle. 

As  foon  as  we  arrived,  tired  and  hungry,  at 
Auffig,  we  put  our  fhattered  coach  on  board 
a  bark,  and  floated  her  down  to  Drefden  ; 
whither  we  drove  forward  in  the  little  carts 
of  the  country,  called  chaifes,  but  very  rough 
and  with  no  fprings,  as  our  very  old-fafhioned 
curricles  were  about  the  year  1750.  The 
brightnefs  of  the  weather  made  even  fuch  a 
drive  delightful  though,  and  the  millions  of 
geefe  on  and  off  the  river  gave  animation  to 
the  views,  and  accounted  for  the  frequency  of 
thofe  foft  downy  feather-beds,  which  footh 
our  cares  and  relieve  our  fatigue  fo  comfort- 
ably every  night.  Hares  will  fcarce  move 
from  near  the  carriage  wheels,  fo  little  appre- 
heniive  are  they  of  offence ;  and  the  partridges 
Y  3  run 


32$  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

run  before  one  fo,  it  is  quite  amufmg  to  look 
at  them.  The  trout  in  thefe  great  rivers  are 
neither  large  nor  red :  I  have  never  feen  trout 
worth  catching  fmce  I  left  England  ;  the  river 
at  Rickmanfworth  produces  (one  fhould  like 
to  know  why)  that  fifh  in  far  higher  perfec-* 
tion  than  it  can  be  found  i$  any  other  ftream 
perhaps  in  Europe. 

The  being  ferved  at  every  inn,  fmce  we 
came  into  Saxony,  upon  Drefden  china,  gives 
one  an  odd  feel  fomehow ;  but  here  at  the 
Hotel  de  Pologne  there  is  every  thing  one  can 
wifh,  and  ferved  in  fo  grand  a  ftyle,  that  I 
queftion  whether  any  Englifh  inn  or  tavern 
can  compare  with  it ;  fo  elegantly  fine  is  the 
linen,  fo  beautiful  the  porcelaine  of  which 
every  the  meaneft  utenfil  is  made ;  and  if  the 
waiter  did  not  appear  before  one  drefled  like 
Abel  Drugger  with  a  green  cloth  apron,  and 
did  not  his  entrance  always  fill  the  room  with 
a  ftrong  fcent  of  tobacco,  I  fhould  think  my- 
felf  at  home  again  almoft.  This  really  does 
feem  a  very  charming  town  ;  the  ftreets  well 
built  and  fpacious  ;  the  fhops  full  of  goods, 
and  the  people  willing  to  {hew  them  ;  and  if 
they  do  cut  all  their  wood  before  their  own 
doors,  why  there  is  room  to  pafs  here  without 
1 2  brawling 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      327 

brawling  and  bones-breaking,  which  difgufts 
one  fo  at  Vienna  ;  it  feems  lighter  too  here 
than  there  ;  I  cannot  tell  why,  but  every- 
thing looks  clean  and  comfortable,  and  one 
fcdsfo  much  at  home.  I  hate  prejudice;  no- 
thing is  fo  ftupid,  nothing  fo  fure  a  mark  of  a 
narrow  mind  :  yet  who  can  be  fure  that  the 
fight  of  a  Lutheran  town  does  not  afford  in 
itfelf  an  honeft  pleafure  to  one  who  has  lived 
fo  long,  though  very  happily,  under  my  Lord 
Peter's  protection  \ 

Here  Brother  Martin  has  all  precedence 
paid  him;  for  though  the  court  are  Ro- 
manifts,  their  fplendid  church  here  is  called 
only  a  chapel,  and  they  are  not  permitted  to 
ring  the  bell,  a  privilege  the  Lutherans  feem 
much  attached  to,  for  nothing  can  equal  the 
noife  of  our  bells  on  a  Sunday  morning  at 
Drefden. 

The  architecture  is  truly  hideous,  but  no 
ornaments  are  fpared ;  and  the  church  of 
Notre  Dame  here  is  very  magnificent.  The 
china  fteeples  all  over  the  country  are  the 
oddeft  things  in  the  world  ;  fpires  of  blue 
or  green  porcelaine  tiles  glittering  in  the  fun 
have  a  ftrange  effect.  But  nothing  can  afford 
a  ftronger  proof  that  crucifixes,  Madonnas, 
Y  4  and 


328  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

and  faints,  need  not  be  driven  out  of  churches 
for  fear  they  Ihould  be  worfhipped,  than  the 
Lutherans  admiflion  of  them  into  theirs;  for 
no  people  can  be  further  removed  from  idol- 
atry, or  better  inftrucled  in  the  Chriftian  re- 
ligion, than  the  common  people  of  this  town ; 
where  a  decent  obfervation  of  the  fabbath 
ftruck  me  with  moft  confolatory  feelings,  after 
living  at  Paris,  Rome,  and  Florence,  where 
it  is  confidered  as  a  merry,  not  a  holy  day  at 
all !  and  though  there  feems  nothing  incon- 
fiftent  or  ofFenfive  in  our  rejoicing  on  the  day 
^of  our  Lord's  refurredion,  yet  if  people  are 
encouraged  to  play,  they  will  foon  find  out 
that  they  may  work  too,  the  fhops  will  fcarcely 
be  fhut,  and  all  appearance  of  regard  to  the 
fourth  commandment  will  be  done  away. 
The  Lutherans  really  feem  to  obferve  the 
golden  mean;  they  frequent  their  churches 
all  morning  with  a  rigorous  folemnity,  no 
carts  or  bufmefs  of  any  fort  goes  forward  in 
the  ftreets,  public  and  private  devotion  takes 
up  the  whole  forenoon  ;  but  they  do  not  for- 
bear to  meet  and  dance  after  fix  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  or  play  a  fober  game  for  fmali 
fums  at  a  friend's  houfe. 

The 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     329 

The  fociety  is  to  me  very  delightful ;  more 
women  than  men  though,  and  the  women 
moft  agreeable  ;  exceedingly  fenfible,  well  in- 
formed, and  willing  to  talk  on  every  fubjeft 
of  general  importance,  but  religion  or  politics 
feem  the  favourite  themes,  and  are  I  believe 
moft  ftudied  here  ; — no  wonder,  the  court  and 
city  being  of  different  feels,  each  fteadily  and 
irrevocably  fixed  in  a  firm  perfuafion  that 
their  own  is  beft,  caufes  an  inveftigation  that 
comes  not  in  the  head  of  people  of  other 
countries  ;  and  it  is  wonderful  to  fee  even  the 
low  Romanifts  fkilled  in  controverfial  points 
to  a  degree  that  would  aftonim  the  people 
neareft  the  Pope's  perfon,  I  am  well  per- 
fuaded. 

The  Saxons  are  exceffively  loyal  however, 
and  have  the  fenfe  to  love  and  honour  their 
fovereign  no  lefs  for  his  difference  of  opinion 
from  theirs,  than  if  all  were  of  one  mind ; 
yet  knowing  his  principles,  they  watch  with  a 
jealous  eye  againft  encroachments,  while  the 
amiable  elector  and  eleclrefs  ufe  every  tender 
method  to  induce  their  fubjeds  to  embrace 
their  tenets,  and  weary  heaven  with  prayers 
for  their  converfion,  as  if  the  people  were 

heathens. 


330  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

heathens.  One  great  advantage  refuits  from 
this  odd  mixture  of  what  fo  fteadily  refifts 
uniting ;  it  is  the  earned  defire  each  has  to 
juftify  and  recommend  their  notions  by  their 
practice,  fo  that  the  inhabitants  of  Drefden 
are  among  the  moft  moral,  decent,  thinking 
people  I  have  feen  in  my  travels,  or  indeed 
in  my  life.  The  general  air  and  manner  both 
of  place  and  people,  puts  one  in  mind  of  the 
pretty  clean  parts  of  our  London,  about  Queen 
Square,  Ormond  Street,  Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, 
and  Southampton  Row. 

The  bridge  is  beautiful,  more  elegant  than 
fhowy ;  the  light  iron  railing  is  better  in 
fome  refpe&s  than  a  ftone  baluftrade,  and  I 
do  not  diflike  the  rule  they  make  to  them- 
felves  of  going  on  one  fide  the  way  always, 
and  returning  the  other,  to  avoid  a  crowd  and 
confufion. 

But  it  is  time  to  talk  about  the  pidlure 
gallery,  where,  cold  as  our  weather  is,  I  con- 
trive to  pafs  three  hours'  every  day,  my  feet 
well  defended  by  perlaches^  a  fort  of  cloth 
clogs,  very  ufeful  and  commodious.  And 
now  I  have  feen  the  Notte  dl  Corregio,  from 
which  almofl  all  pictures  of  effeB  have  taken 

their 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.  33r 
their  original  idea;  and  here  are  three  other 
Corregios  inimitable,  invaluable,  incompa- 
rable. Surely  this  Notts  might  ftand  fide  by 
fide  with  Raphael's  Transfiguration  ;  and  as 
Sherlock  fays  that  Shakefpear  and  Corneille 
would  look  only  on  the  Vefuvius  fide  of  the 
profpect  at  Naples,  while  Pope  and  Racine 
would  turn  their  heads  towards  Pofilippo ; 
fo  probably,  while  the  two  firft  would  faften 
all  their  attention  upon  the  Demoniac,  the 
two  laft  would  confole  their  eyes  with  the 
fweetnefs  of  Corregio's  Nativity.  His  little 
Magdalen  too  fet  round  with  jewels,  itfelf 
more  precious  than  any  or  than  all  of  them, 
poffefles  wonderful  powers  of  attraction  ;  it  is 
an  hour  before  one  can  recollect  that  there  are 
fome  glorious  Titians  in  the  fame  fa9ade  ;  but 
Caracci,  who  depends  not  on  his  colouring  for 
applaufe,  lofes  little  by  their  vicinity,  and 
Pouffin  is  always  equally  refpectable.  The 
Rembrandts  are  beyond  credibility  perfect  of 
their  kind,  and  produce  a  moft  powerful  ef- 
fect. His  portrait  of  his  own  daughter  has 
neither  equal  nor  price,  I  believe  ;  though  the 
girl  has  little  dignity  to  be  fure,  and  lefs  grace 
about  her  ;  but  if  to  reprefent^  nature  as  fhe  if 
fuffices,  this  is  the  firfl  fingle  figure  in  Europe 

as 


33*  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

as  painting  a  live  woman. — The  Jupiter  and 
Ganymede  is  very  droll  indeed,  and  done 
with  very  ?/;z-Italian  notions;  but  the  eagle 
looks  as  if  one  might  pluck  his  feathers  ;  it 
is  very  life  itfelf. — A  candle-light  Rubens  here 
is  (hewn  as  a  prodigious  rarity  ;  a  Ruyfdael 
as  much  reiembling  nature  in  bis  country,  I 
do  believe,  as  Claude  Lorraine  ever  painted 
in  bis. — The  crayons  Cupid  of  Mengs  which 
dazzles,  and  the  portrait  of  old  Parr  by  Van- 
dycke  which  interefts  one,  are  pictures  which 
call  one  to  look  at  them  again  and  again ;  and 
the  little  Vanderwerfs  kept  in  glafs  cafes, 
imooth  as  ivory,  and  finimed  to  perfection, 
are  all  alike  to  be  lure ;  one  would  wonder 
that  a  man  mould  never  be  weary  of  painting 
fmgle  figures  ib,  and  conftantly  repeating  the 
fame  idea ;  his  eyes  muft  have  had  peculiar 
ftrength  too,  to  endure  fuch  trials,  mine  have 
been  pained  enough  this  morning  with  only 
looking  at  his  labours,  and  thofe  of  the  in- 
defatigable Denny.  Let  me  refrefn  them 
with  a  ParnafTiis  of  Giacomo  Tiritoret,  who 
puts  all  the  colourifts  to  flight  except  Cor- 
regio. 

But  here  are  two  pictures  which   difplay 

prodigious  genius,  by  a  matter  of  whom  I 

8  never 


JOURNEY    THROUGH   GERMANY.     333 

never  heard  any  one  fpeak,  Ferdinand  Bol, 
who  unites  grace  and  dignity  to  the  clear  ob- 
fcure  of  Rembrandt,  whofe  fcholar  he  was. 
Jacob  bleffing  Pharoah,  painted  by  him,  is 
delightful ;  and  Jofeph's  expreflions  while  he 
prefents  his  father,  full  of  affectionate  partial- 
ity and  fond  regard  for  the  old  man,  heightens 
his  perfonal  beauty ;  while  the  king's  charac- 
ter is   happily  managed  too,  and   gives  one 
the  higheft  idea  of  the  artift's  {kill.     A  Ma- 
donna repofmg  in  her  flight  to  Egypt  with  a 
fatigued   look,   her   head   fupported    by    her 
hand,  is  elegant,  and  worthy  of  the  Roman 
or  Bolognefe   fchools  ;    the  landfcape  is  like 
Rembrant.     This  gallery  boafts  an  Egyptian 
Mary  by  Spagnolet,  too  terrifying  to  look  long 
at  ;   and  a  fmall  picture  by  Lodovico  Carracci 
of  the  Virgin  clafping  her  Son,  who  lies  afleep 
in  her  lap,  while  a  vifion  of  his  future  cru- 
cifixion  {hewn   her   by  angels   in   the   {ky, 
agitates   every  charming  feature  of  her  face, 
and  caufes  a  {hrinking  in  her  figure  which 
no  power  of  art  can  exceed. 

As  I  fuffered  fo  much  for  the  fake  of  feeing 
this  collection,  I  have  indulged  myielf  too  Icng 
in  talking  of  it  perhaps ;  but  Garrick  is  dead, 
and  Siddons  at  a  diftance,  and  fome  compen- 

iation 


334  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

fation  muft  be  had  ;  can  any  thing  afford  it 
except  the  ftatues  of  Rome,  and  the  pictures 
of  Bologna  ?  here  are  a  vaft  many  from  thence 
in  this  magnificent  gallery. 

We  had  a  concert  made  on  purpole  for  us 
laft  night  by  fome  amiable  friends  :  it  was  a 
very  good  one.  What  I  liked  beft  though, 
was  Mr.  Tricklir's  new  invention  of  keeping 
a  harpfichord  always  in  tune  ;  and  it  feems  to 
anfwer.  I  am  no  good  mechanic,  nor  parti- 
cularly fond  of  multiplying  combinations ; 
but  the  device  of  adding  a  thermometer  to 
{hew  how  much  heat  the  firings  will  bear  with- 
out relaxation  feems  ingenious  enough : 
we  had  a  vaft  many  experiments  made,  and 
nobody  could  put  the  firings  out  of  tune,  or 
even  break  them,  when  his  method  was 
adopted  ;  and  it  does  not  take  up  two  minutes 
in  the  operation. 

We  have  feen  the  Elector's  treafures  ',  and, 
as  a  Frenchman  would  exprefs  it,  C*eft  icy 
quon  voit  des  beaux  diamants*!  The  yellow 
brilliant  ring  is  unique  it  feems,  and  valued 
at  an  enormous  fum ;  the  green  one  is  larger, 
and  fet  tranfparent ;  it  is  not  green  like  an 
emerald,  but  pale  and  bright,  and  beyond 

*  Here's  the  place  to  fee  fine  diamonds. 

conception 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.  335 
conception  beautiful :  hyacinths  were  new 
to  me  here,  their  glorious  colour  dazzles  one; 
and  here  is  a  white  diamond  from  the  Great 
Mogul's  empire,  of  unequalled  perfection ; 
hefides  an  onyx  large  as  a  common  dinner 
plate,  well  known  to  be  firft  in  the  univerfe. 
What  majeftic  treafures  are  thefe  ! — The  fap- 
phires  and  rubies  beat  thole  of  Bavaria,  but 
the  Electrefs's  pearls  at  Munich  are  unrivalled 
yet.  Saxony  is  a  very  rich  country  in  her 
own  bofom  it  feems  ;  the  agates  and  jafpers 
produced  here  are  excellent,  nor  are  good 
amethyfts  wanting  ;  the  topazes  are  pale  and 
fickly. 

Nothing  can  be  finer,  or  in  its  way 
more  tafteful,  than  a  chimney-piece  made  for 
the  Elector,  entirely  from  the  manufacture 
and  produce  of  his  own  dominions  ;  that  part 
which  we  fhould  form  of  marble  is  white 
porcelane,  with  an  exquifite  bas-relief  in  the 
middle  copied  from  the  antique  ;  its  fides  are 
fet  with  Saxon  gems,  cameowife ;  and  fuch 
carnelions  much  amaze  one  in  fo  northern  a 
latitude  j  the  workmanfhip  is  beyond  praife. 
— I  afked  the  gentleman  who  mewed  us  the 
cabinet  of  natural  hiftory,  why  fuch  richly- 
coloured  minerals,  and  even  precious  (tones, 
were  found  in  thefe  climates  j  while  every 

animal 


336  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

animal  product  grows  paler  as  it  approaches 
the  pole  ? — "  Where  phlogifton  is  frequent," 
replied  he,  "  there  is  no  danger  of  the  tint 
being  too  lightly  beftowed  :  our  quantity  of 
iron  here  in  Saxony,  gives  purple  to  the  ame- 
thyfts  you  admire  ;  and  fee  here  if  the  rain- 
bow-ftone  of  Labrador  yields  in  glowing  hue 
to  the  productions  of  Mexico  or  Malabar."— 
The  fpecimens  here  however  were  not  as  va- 
luable as  the  converfation  of  him  who  has  the 
Care  of  them  ;  but  a  plica  Polonica  took  much 
of  my  attention ;  the  fize  and  weight  of  it  was 
enormous,  its  length  four  yards  and  a  half; 
the  perfon  who  was  killed  by  its  growth  was 
a  Polifh  lady  of  quality  well  known  in  King 
Auguftus's  court ;  it  is  a  very  ftrange  and  a 
very  (hocking  thing  ! 

Our  library  here  is  new  and  not  eminently 
•well  flocked  ;  but  it  is  too  cold  weather  now 
to  ftand  long  looking  at  rarities.  The  firft 
Reformation  bible  publifhed  by  Luther  him- 
felf,  with  a  portrait  of  the  firft  Proteftant 
Hlector,  is  however  too  curious  and  intereft- 
ing  to  be  neglected  ;  in  froft  and  fnow  fuch 
fights  might  warm  a  heart  well  difpofed  to  fee 
the  word  of  God  difleminated,  which  had 
lain  too  long  locked  up  by  ignorance  and  in- 

tereft 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     337 

tereft  united.  Here  is  a  book  too,  whick 
how  it  efcaped  Pinelli  I  know  not,  a  Venetian 
tranflation  of  the  holy  fcriptures  a  Brucioli% 
the  date  1592.  King  Auguftus's  maps  pleafe 
tine  frorti  their  coftlinefs ;  the  Elector  has 
twelve  volumes  of  them  ;  every  letter  is  gold, 
every  city  painted  in  miniature  at  the  corners, 
while  arms,  trophies,  &c.  adorn  the  whole, 
to  an  incredible  expence:  they  were  engraved 
on  purpofe  for  his  ufe ;  and  that  no  other 
Prince  might  ever  have  fuch  again,  he  ordered 
the  plates  to  be  broke. 

Sunday,  December  17.  I  am  juft  now  re- 
turned home  from  the  Lutheran  church  of 
Notre  Dame  ;  where,  though  the  commu- 
nicants do  not  kneel  down  like  us,  it  is  odd 
to  fay  I  never  faw  the  facrament  adminiftered 
with  fuch  folemnity  and  pomp.  Four  priefts 
ornamented  with  a  large  crofs  on  the  back,  a 
multitude  of  lighted  tapers  blazing  round 
them,  a  uniformity  in  the  drefs  ot  all  who 
received,  and  mufic  played  in  a  flat  third 
fomehow  very  imprefllvely,  as  they  moved 
round  in  a  fort  of  proceflion,  making  a  pro- 
found reverence  to  the  altar  when  they  patted 
it,  ftruck  me  extremely,  who  have  been 

VOL.  II.  Z  lately 


338  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

lately  accuftomed  to  fee  very  little  ceremony 
ufed  on  fuch  occafions  ;  and  I  well  remember 
at  Pifa  in  particular,  that  while  we  were  look- 
ing about  the  church  for  curiofity,  one  poor 
woman  knelt  down  juft  by  us,  and  a  prieft 
coming  out  adminiftered  the  facrament  to  her 
alone,  the  whole  finishing  in  lefs  than  five 
minutes  I  am  perfuaded.  I  faid  to  Mr.  Sey- 
delman,  when  we  had  returned  home  to- 
day, that  the  Saxons  feemed  to  follow  the 
iirft  manner  in  reformation,  our  Anglicans 
the  fecond,  and  the  Calvinifts  the  third :  he 
underftood  my  allufion  to  the  cant  of  con- 
noifTeurfhip. 

The  fedan  chairs  here  give  the  town  a  fort 
of  homeim  look  ;  I  had  not  been  carried 
in  one  fmce  I  left  Genoa,  and  it  is  fo  com- 
fortable this  cold  clear  weather  f  A  regular 
market  too,  though  not  a  fine  one,  has  an 
Englifh  air ;  and  a  faddle  of  mutton,  or  more 
properly  a  chine,  was  a  fight  I  had  not  con- 
templated for  two  years  and  a  half.  The 
Italians  do  call  a  cook-  teolego,  out  of  fport ; 
but  I  think  he  would  be  the  propereft  theo- 
logian in  good  earneft,  to  tell  why  Catholics 
and  Proteftants  fhould  not  cut  their  meat  alike 
at  leaft,  if  they  cannot  agree  in  other  points. 

This 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.    339 

This  is  the  firft  town  I  have  feen  however, 
where  the  butchers  divided  their  beafts  as  we 
do. 

The  arfenal  we  have  walked  over  delighted 
us  but  little:  Saxons  fhould  fay  to  their 
fwords,  like  Benvolio  in  the  play,  "  God  fend 
me  no  need  of  thee  /" — for  the  Emperor  is  on 
one  fide  of  them,  and  the  King  of  Pruffia  on 
the  other.  This  laft  is  always  mentioned  as 
a  pacific  prince  though  ;  and  the  firft  has  fo 
much  to  do  and  to  think  of,  I  hope  he  will 
forget  Drgfden,  and  fuffer  them  to  pofTefs  their 
fine  territory  and  gems  in  perfect  peace  and 
quietnefs.  One  thing  however  was  odd  and 
pretty,  and  worth  remarking,  That  at  Rome 
there  was  an  arfenal  in  the  church — I  mean 
belonging  to  it ;  and  here  there  is  a  church  in 
the  arfenal. 

The  bombardment  of  this  pretty  town  by 
their  active  neighbour  Frederic ;  the  fweet 
Electrefs's  death  in  confequence  of  the  per- 
fonal  mortifications  fhe  received  during  that 
dreadful  fiege  ;  the  embarkation  of  the  trea- 
fures  to  fend  them  fafe  away  by  water  ;  and 
the  various  diftrefles  fuffered  by  this  city  in  the 
time  of  that  great  war  ; — make  much  of  our 
converfation,  and  that  converfation  is  intereft- 
Z  2  ing. 


340  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

ing.     I  only  wonder   they  have  fo  quickly 
recovered  a  blow  ftruek  fo  hard. 

The  gaiety  and  good-humour  of  the  court 
are  much  defired  by  the  Saxons,  who  have  a 
moft  lofty  notion  of  princes,  and  repeat  all 
they  fay,  and  all  that  is  faid  of  them,  with  a 
moft  venerating  affection.  I  fee  no  national 
partiality  to  England  however,  as  in  many 
other  parts  of  Europe,  though  our  religions 
are  fo  nearly  allied :  and  here  is  a  fpirit  of 
fubordination  beyond  what  I  have  yet  been. 
witnefs  to — an  aunt  killing  the  hand  of  her 
own  niece  (a  baby  not  fix  years  old),  and 
calling  her  "  ma  chere  comteffe  /" — carried  it 
as  high  I  think  as  it  can  be  carried. 

The  environs  of  Drefden  are  happily  dif- 
pofed,  for  though  it  is  deep  winter  we  have 
had  fcarcely  any  fnow,  and  the  horizon  is  very 
clear,  fo  that  one  may  be  a  tolerable  judge  of 
the  profpe£ts.  Our  river  Elbe  is  truly  ma- 
jeftic,  and  the  great  iflands  of  ice  floating 
down  it  have  a  fine  appearance. 

They  do  not  double  their  fafh-windows  as 
at  Vienna,  but  there  is  lefs  wind  to  keep  out. 
In  every  place  people  have  a  trick  of  lament- 
ing, and  there  are  two  themes  of  lamentation 
7  univerfal 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     34.1 

univerfal  for  aught  I  fee — the  weather  and 
the  poor.  I  fee  no  beggars  here,  and  feel  no 
rain, — but  hear  heavy  complaints  of  both. 
Crying  the  hour  in  the  night  as  at  London 
pleafed  me  much  ;  why  the  ceremony  is  ac- 
companied by  the  found  of  a  horn,  nobody 
feems  able  to  tell.  The  march  of  foldiers 
morning  and  night  to  mufic  through  the 
ftreets  is  likewife  agreeable,  and  gives  ideas 
of  fecurity  ;  but  driving  great  heavy  wag- 
gons up  and  down,  with  two  horfes  a-breaft, 
like  a  chaife  in  England,  and  a  poftillion  upon 
one  of  them,  is  very  droll  to  look  at.  Ordi- 
nary fellows  too  in  the  Elector's  livery  (blue 
and  yellow)  would  feem  ftrange,  but  that  as 
foon  as  Dover  is  left  behind  every  man  feems 
to  belong  to  fome  other  man,  and  no  man  to 
himfelf.  The  Emperor's  livery  is  very  hand- 
fome,  but  I  do  not  admire  this.  A  cuftom  of 
fifteen  or  twenty  grave-looking  men,  dreffed 
like  counfellors  in  Weftminfter  Hall,  with 
half  a  dozen  boys  in  their  company  for  Jo- 
pranos,  fmging  counterpoint  under  one's  win- 
dow, has  an  odd  effect ;  they  are  confra- 
ternities of  people  I  am  told,  who  live  in  a  fort 
of  community  together,  are  maintained  by 
Z  3  contri- 


342  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

contributing  friends,  and  taught  mufic  at  their 
expence ;  fo  in  order  to  accompli (h  them- 
fdves,  and  fhew  how  well  they  are  accom- 
plifhed,  this  curious  contrivance  is  adopted. 
Every  Sunday  we  hear  them  again  in  the 
church  belonging  to  the  parifh  that  maintains 
them.  A  proceffion  of  bakers  too  is  a  droll 
oddity,  but  fhews  that  where  there  is  much 
leifure  for  the  common  people,  fome  cheap 
amufement  muft  be  found  :  two  of  thefe 
bakers  fight  at  the  corner  of  every  ftreet  for 
precedence,  which  by  this  means  often  changes 
hands ;  yet  does  not  the  conquered  baker 
fhew  any  figns  of  lhame  or  depreffion,  nor 
does  the  conteft  laft  long,  or  prove  interefting. 
I  fuppofe  they  have  fettled  all  the  battles  be- 
forehand :  no  meaning  feemed  to  be  annexed 
either  by  performers  or  fpeclators  to  the 
{how  ;  we  could  make  little  diverfion  out  of 
it,  but  have  no  doubt  of  its  being  an  old  fu- 
perflition. 

On  Chriftmas  eve  I  went  to  Santa  Sophia's 
church,  and  heard  a  famous  preacher  ;  his 
manner  was  energetic,  and  he  kept  an  hour- 
glafs  by  him,  finithing  with  ftrange  abrupt- 
nefs  the  moment  it  was  expired.  This  was  in 

ufe 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.    343 

life  among  our  diftant  provinces  as  late  as 
Gay's  time  ;  he  mentions  it  in  a  line  of  his 
paftorals,  and  fays — ' 

He  preach'd  the  hour-glafs  in  her  praife  quite  out; 
fpeaking  of  dead  Blouzelind  as  I  recollect. 
It  now  feems  a  ilrange  grojjleret^  but  refine- 
ment follows  hard  upon  the  heels  of  reform- 
ation. 

There  is  an  agreeable  fancy  here,  which 
one  has  always  heard  of,  but  never  feen 
perhaps  ;  the  notion  of  calling  together  a  do- 
zen pretty  children  to  receive  prefents  upon 
Chriftmas  eve.  The  cuftom  is  exceedingly 
amiable  in  itfelf,  and  gives  befide  a  pleafing 
pretext  for  parents  and  relations  to  meet,  and 
while  away  the  time  till  fupper  in  reciprocat- 
ing carefles  with  their  babies,  and  rejoicing  in 
that  fpecies  of  happinefs  (the  pureft  of  all 
perhaps)  which  childhood  alone  can  either 
receive  or  beftow.  I  was  invited  to  an  ex- 
hibition of  this  fort,  and  for  fome  time  faw 
little  preparation  for  pleafure,  except  the  fight 
of  fourteen  or  fifteen  well-drefled  little  crea- 
tures, all  under  the  age  of  twelve  I  think,  and 
more  girls  than  boys  :  the  company  confifted 
of  three  or  four  and  twenty  people  ;  all  fpoke 
Z  4  French, 


344.  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

French,  and  I  was  directed  to  obferve  how 
the  young  ones  watched  for  the  opening  of  a 
particular  door  ;  which  however  remained 
{hut  fo  long,  that  I  forgot  it  again,  and  had 
begun  to  interefl  myfelf  in  chat  with  mv 
neareft  neighbour  (no  mother  of  courfe),  when 
the  door  flew  wide,  and  the  matter  of  the 
houfe  announced  the  hour  of  felicity,  mewing 
us  an  apartment  gaily  illuminated  with  co- 
loured lamps  ;  a  fort  of  tree  in  grotto-work 
adorned  the  middle,  and  the  prefents  were 
arranged  all  round  ;  dolls  innumerable,  va- 
rioufly  adjufted  ;  fine  new  clothes,  fans,  trin- 
kets, work-bafkets,  little  efcritoires,  purfes, 
pocket-books,  toys,  dancing- fhoes, — every 
thing.  The  children  fkipped  about,  and  ca^- 
pered  with  exultation;-^-"  My  own  mama! 
my  dear  aunt !  my  fweet  kind  grandpapa  !" — 
refounded  wherever  we  turned  our  heads ; 
1  think  it  was  the  lovelieft  little  mow  imagin- 
able, and  am  forry  to  know  how  defcription 
muft  necefiarily  wrong  it :  hs  etrenncs  de 
Drcfde  mall  however  remain  indelibly  fixed 
jn  my  memory.  When  the  pretty  dears  had 
appropriated  and  arranged  their  prefents,  cake 
and  lemonade  were  brought  to  quiet  their  agi- 
tated 


JOURNEY  THROUGH   GERMANY.    345 

tated  fpirits,  and  all  went  home  happy  to  bed. 
Their  fparkling  eyes  and  rofy  cheeks  ferved 
for  our  theme  till  fupper-time ;  and  I  fat  try- 
ing, but  in  vain,  to  find  a  reafon  why  pater- 
nal affection  appears  fo  much  warmer  always 
in  Proteftant  countries,  and  filial  piety  in 
ihofe  which  remain  firm  to  the  church  of 
Rome. 

\Ve  returned  home  to  our  inn  exceedingly 
well  amufed  ;  the  fupper  had  been  magnificent, 
and  the  preceding  faft  gave  it  additional  relifli. 
I  now  tremble  with  apprehenfion  however  left 
jrhe  (how  of  yefterday  was  too  fplendid  :  for  if 
the  mothers  begin  once  to  vie  with  each  other 
whole  gifts  fhall  be  grandeft,  or  if  once  the 
friend  at  whofe  houfe  the  treat  is  prepared 
produces  a  more  coflly  entertainment  than  his 
neighbours  have  hitherto  contented  themfelves 
with  giving,  this  innocent  and  even  praife- 
worthy  paflime  will  foon  fwell  into  expenfive 
luxury,  and  burfl  from  having  been  poifoned 
by  the  corroding  touch  of  malice  and  of  envy. 

Our  Saxons  however  feemed  well-bred, 
airy,  and  agreeable  in  laft  night's  hour  of  fefti- 
vity  ;  and  could  I  have  fancied  their  gaiety 
natural  like  that  of  Venice  or  Verona,  I 

might 


346          OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

might  perhaps  have  caught  the  fweet  infection, 
and  felt  difpofed  to  merriment  myfelf ;  but 
much  of  this  was  ftudied  mirth  one  faw,  and 
ple^fure  upon  principle,  as  in  our  own  ifland  ; 
which,  though  more  elegant,  is  lefs  attractive. 
It  is  difficult  to  catch  the  contagion  of  artificial 
hilarity,  and  a  celebrated  furgeon  once  told 
me,  that  one  might  live  with  fafety  at  Sutton- 
houfe  among  the  inoculated  patients,  without 
ever  taking  the  diforder,  unlefs  the  operation 
were  regularly  performed  upon  one's  felf. 

Well !  we  muft  (hortly  quit  this  very  com- 
fortable refling-place,  and  leave  a  town  more 
like  our  own  than  any  I  have  yet  feen ;  where, 
however,  the  drefles,  of  ordinary  women  I 
mean,  are  extraordinary  enough,  each  when 
me  is  made  up  for  mow  wearing  a  rich  old- 
fafhioned  brocade  cloke  lined  with  green 
luteftring,  and  edged  round  with  narrow  fur. 
This  is  univerfal.  Her  neat  black  love-hood 
however  is  not  fo  ugly  as  the  man's  bright 
yellow  brais  comb,  ftuck  regularly  in  all  their 
heads  of  long  ftraight  hair  who  are  not  peo- 
ple of  fafhion  ;  and  no  powder  is  ever  ufed 
among  the  Lutherans  here  in  Saxony  I  fee, 
except  by  gentlemen  and  ladies,  who  often 

take 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.    347 

take  all  theirs  out  when  they  go  to  church, 
from  fome  odd  principle  of  devotion.  It  is 
very  pretty  though  to  fee  the  little  clean-faced 
lads  and  wenches  running  to  fchool  fo  in  a 
morning  at  every  proteftant  town,  with  the 
grammar  and  teftament  under  their  arm, 
while  every  the  meaneft  houfe  has  a  folio  bi- 
ble in  it,  and  all  the  people  of  the  loweft 
ranks  can  read  it. 

On  this  i  ft  of  January  1787,  I  may  boaft 
of  having  vifited  lord  Peter,  Jack,  and  Martin, 
all  in  the  courfe  of  one  day.  Hearing  Monf. 
Dumarre  preach  to  the  French  Huguenots  in 
the  morning,  attending  the  eftablifhed  church 
at  Notre  Dame  at  noon,  and  going  to  the 
Elector's  truly- magnificent  place  of  worfhip  at 
night,  where  Hafle's  Te  Deum  was  fung,  and 
executed  with  prodigious  regularity  and  pomp, 
over  againft  an  altar  decorated  with  well-em- 
ployed fplendour,  exhibiting  zeal  for  God's 
houfe,  animated  by  elegant  tafte,  and  encou- 
raged by  royal  prefence  ; 

While  from  the  cenfer  clouds  of  fragrance  roll, 
And  fwelling  organs  lift  the  rifmg  foul. 

4  I  fludied 


348  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

I  ftudied  then  to  keep  my  mind,  I  hope  I 
kept  it  free  from  narrow  and  from  vulgar  pre- 
judice, defirous  only  of  feeing  the  three  prin- 
cipal feds  of  Chriftians  adoring  their  Redeemer, 
each  in  the  way  they  think  moft  likely  to 
pleafe  him  ;  nor  will  I  mention  which  method 
had  the  moft  immediate  eflfecl:  on  me ;  but  this 
I  faw,  that  beneath 

Such  plain  roofs  as  piety  could  raife, 
Made  vocal  only  by  our  maker's  praife, 

Monfieur  Dumarre  produced  from  his  peace- 
ful auditors  more  tears  of  gratitude  and 
tendernefs  in  true  remembrance  of  the  facred 
feafon,  than  were  fhed  at  either  of  the  other 
churches.  Indeed  the  fublime  and  pathetic 
fimplicity  of  the  place,  the  truly-touching 
rhetoric  of  the  preacher,  his  ftory  a  fad  one  ; 
while  his  perfecuted  family  were  forced  to  fly 
their  native  country,  driven  thence  by  the  ri- 
gour of  Romifh  feverity,  and  his  life  exactly 
correfponding  to  the  purity  of, that  doctrine  he 
teaches  :  his  tones  of  voice,  his  tranquillity  of 
manners, 

His  plainnefs  moves  men  more  than  eloquence, 
And  to  his  flock,  joy  be  the  confequence ! 

The 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     349 

The  eftabliftied  feet  here — Lutheramfm^ 
keeps  almoft  the  exact  medium  between  the 
other  two,  though  their  places  of  worfhip  ftrike 
me  as  fomething  more  theatrical  than  one 
could  wifh ;  very  {lately  they  are  certainly, 
and  very  impofing.  As  few  people  however 
are  fond  of  a  middle  ftate,  as  here  is  prodi- 
gious encouragement  given  by  the  court  to 
Romanifts,  and  full  toleration  from  the  ftate 
to  the  difciples  of  John  Calvin,  I  wonder 
more  members  of  the  national  church  do  not 
quit  her  communion  for  that  of  one  of  thefe 
chapels,  which  however  owe  their  very  ex- 
iftence  in  Saxony  to  that  truly  chriftian  and 
catholick  fpirit  of  toleration,  pofleiTed  by 
Martin  alone. 

We  have  recovered  ourfelves  now  from  all 
fatigues ;  our  coach  and  our  fpirits  are  once 
more  repaired,  and  ready  to  fet  out  for 


BERLIN. 


350         OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 


BERLIN. 

THE  road  hither  is  all  a  heavy  fand,  cut 
through  vaft  forefts  of  ever-green  timber,  but 
not  beautiful  like  thofe  of  Bavaria,  rather  te- 
dious, flat,  and  triftful  :  to  encreafe  which 
fenfations,  and  make  them  more  grievous  to 
us,  our  fervants  complained  bitterly  of  the  laft 
long  frofty  night,  which  we  fpent  wholly  in 
the  carriage  till  it  brought  us  here,  where  the 
man  of  the  houfe,  a  bad  one  enough  indeed, 
fpeaks  as  good  Englifh  as  I  do,  and  has  lived 
long  in  London.  I  am  not  much  enchanted 
with  this  place  however.  Dean  Swift  faid,  that 
a  good  ftyle  was  only  proper  words  in  proper 
places;  and  if  a  good  city  is  to  be  judged  of 
in  the  fame  way,  perhaps  Berlin  may  obtain 
the  firft  place,  which  one  would  not  on  an 
immediate  glance  think  it  likely  to  deferve  ;  as 
a  mere  refidence  however,  it  will  be  difficult  to 
find  a  finer. 

He  who  fighs  for  the  happy  union  of  fitua- 
tion,    climate,    fertility,    and  grandeur,    will 

think 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      351 

think  Genoa  tranfcends  all  that  even  a  warm 
imagination  can  wifh.  If  with  a  very,  very 
little  lefs  degree  of  pofitive  beauty,  he  feels 
himfelf  chiefly  affected  by  a  number  of  Na- 
ture's moft  iriterefling  features,  finely,  and 
even  philofophically  arranged  ;  Naples  is  the 
town  that  can  afford  him  mod  matter  both  of 
folemn  and  pleafmg  fpeculation. 

If  ruins  of  priftine  fplendour,  foiid  proofs 
of  univerfal  dominion,  once,  nay  twice  enjoy- 
ed :  with  the  view  of  temporal  power  crufhed 
by  its  own  weight,  folicits  his  curiofity. — It 
will  be  amply  gratified  at  Rome ;  where  all  that 
modern  magnificence  can  perform,  is  added 
to  all  that  ancient  empire  has  left  behind. 
Romantic  ideas  of  Armida's  palace,  fancied 
fcenes  of  perennial  pleafure,  and  magical 
images  of  ever  varying  delight,  will  be  beftreal- 
ized  at  fmiling  Venice  of  any  place ;  but  if  a 
city  may  be  called  perfect  in  proportion  to  its 
external  convenience,  if  making  many  homes 
to  hold  many  people,  keeping  infection  away 
by  cleanlinefs,  and  enfuring  fecurity  againft 
fire  by  a  nice  feparation  of  almoft  every 
building  from  almoft  every  other  ;  if  unifor- 
mity of  appearance  can  compenfate  for  ele- 
gance 


352  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

gance  of  architecture,  and  fpace  make  amends 
for  beauty,  Berlin  certainly  deferves  to  be 
feen,arid  he  who  planned  it,  to  be  highly  com- 
iriended.  The  whole  looks  at  its  worft  now  • 
all  the  churches  are  in  mourning,  fo  are  the 
coaches :  no  theatre  is  open,  and  no  mufic 
heard,  except  now  and  then  a  melancholy 
German  organ  droning  its  dull  round  of  tunes 
under  one's  window,  without  even  the  Lon- 
don accompaniment  of  a  hoarfe  voice  crying 
Woolfieet  oyjlers.  Come  !  Berlin  can  boaft  an 
arfenal  capable  of  containing  arms  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thoufand  men.  The  con- 
tempt of  decoration  for  a  place  deftined  to  real 
ufe  feemed  refpedable  in  itfelf,  and  charac- 
teriftic  of  its  founder.  No  columns  of  guns 
or  capitals  of  piftols,  neatly  placed,  are  to  be 
feen  here.  A  vaft,  large,  clean,  cold- looking 
room,  with  fwords  and  mufkets  laid  up  only 
that  they  may  be  taken  down,  is  all  one  has  to 
look  at  in  Frederick's  preparations  for  attack 
or  defence. 

In  accumulation  of  ornaments  one  hopes  to 
find  elegance,  and  in  rejection  of  fuperfluity 
there  is  dignity  of  fentiment ;  but  nothing  can 
excufe  a  fovereign  prince  for  keeping  as  cu- 

riofities 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY,     353 

riofities  worthy  a  traveller's  attention,  a  heap 
of  trumpery  fit  to  furniih  out  the  fhop  of  a 
Weftminfter  pawnbroker.  Our  cabinet  of 
rarities  here  is  literally  no  better  than  twenty 
old  country  gentlemen's  feats,  fituated  in  the 
diftant  provinces  of  England,  {hew  to  the  fer- 
vants  of  a  neighbouring  family  upon  a  Chrift- 
mas  vifit,  when  the  houfekeeper  is  in  good 
humour,  and,  gently  wiping  the  duft  off  my 
late  ladys  mother  s  amber-boxes,  produces 
forth  the  wax  figures  of  my  lord  John  and 
my  lord  Robert  when  babies.  For  this  pitia- 
ble exhibition,  mips  cut  in  paper,  and  faints 
carved  in  wood,  we  paid  half  a  guinea  each  ; 
not  gratuity  to  the  perfon  who  has  them  in 
charge,  but  tax  impofed  by  the  government. 
Every  houfe  here  is  obliged  to  maintain  fo 
many  foldiers,  excepting  fuch  and  fuch  only 
•who  have  the  word  free  written  over  their 
doors  ;  here  feem  to  be  no  people  in  the  town 
almofl  except  foldiers  though  ;  fo  they  na- 
turally command  whatever  is  to  be  had.  Moft 
nations  begin  and  end  with  a  military  domi- 
nion, as  red  is  commonly  the  firft  and  laft  co- 
lour obtained  by  the  chymift  in  his  various  ex- 
periments upon  artificial  tints.  This  Hate  is 
VOL.  II.  A  a  yet 


354  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

yet  young,  and  many  things  in  it  not  quite 
come  to  their  full  growth,  fo  we  muft  not  be 
rigorous  in  our  judgments.  I  have  feen  the 
library,  in  which  we  were  for  the  firft  time 
fhewn  what  is  confidently^z/W  to  be  an  ^Ethio- 
pian manufcript,  and  fuch  it  certainly  may  be 
for  aught  I  know.  What  interefted  me  much 
more  was  our  Torifon's  Cafar,  a  book  re- 
markable for  having  been  written  by  the  firft 
hero  and  general  in  the  world  perhaps,  dedi- 
cated to  the  fecond,  and  poffefled  by  the 
third.  Here  is  an  exceeding  perfect  collec- 
tion of  all  Hogarth's  prints. 

This  city  appears  to  be  a  very  wholefome 
one  ;  the  houfes  are  not  high  to  confine  the 
air  between  them,  or  drive  it  forward  in  cur- 
rents upon  the  principle  of  Paris  or  Vienna  ; 
the  ftreets  are  few,  but  long,  ftraight,  and 
wide ;  ground  has  not  been  fpared  in  its  con- 
ftruction,  which  feems  a  moft  judicious  one  ; 
and  with  this  well-earned  praife  I  am  moft 
willing  to  quit  it.  It  is  the  firft  place  of  any 
confequence  I  have  felt  in  a  hurry  to  run  away 
from  ;  for  till  now  there  have  been  feme  at- 
tractions in  every  town  ;  fomething  that  com- 
manded veneration  or  invited  fondnefs  ;  fome- 
thing 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      355 

thing  pleafmg  in  its  fociety,  or  inftruclive'in 
its  hiftory.  It  would  however  be  fullen 
enough  to  feel  no  agreeable  fenfation  in  feeing 
this  child  of  the  prefent  century  come  to'  age 
fo  :  the  tomb  of  its  author  is  the  object  of  our 
prefent  curiofity,  which  will  be  gratified  to- 
morrow. 

Ou  font  ils  done,  ces  foudres  de  gnerre, 
Qiii  faifoient  trembler  Tunivers  ? 

Ils  ne  font  plus  qu'un  peu  de  terre, 
Reftes,  qu'ont  epargnis  les  vers*. 


*  What  are  they  after  all  their  pains, 

Thefe  thunderbolts  of  war? 
Mere  caput  mortuum  that  remains 
Which  worms  vouchfafe  to  fpare. 


a  2 


356  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 


P    O    T    Z   D   A    M. 


AN!)  now,  if  Berlin  wants  tafte  and  magni- 
ficence, here's  Potzdam  built  on  purpofe,  I 
believe^  to  fhew  that  even  with  both  a  place 
may  be  very  difmal  and  very  difagreeable.  The 
commoneil  buildings  in  this  city  look  like  the 
beft  fide  of  Grofvenor-fquare  in  London,  or 
Queen's-fquare  at  Bath.  I  have  not  feen  a 
ftreet  fo  narrow  as  Oxford  Road,  but  many 
here  are  much  wider,  with  canals  up  the  mid- 
dle, and  a  row  of  trees  planted  on  each  fide,  a 
gravel  walk  near  the  water  for  foot  paflen- 
gers,  inftead  of  a  trottolr  by  the  fide  of  the 
houfes.  Every  dwelling  is  ornamented  to  a 
degree  of  profufion  ;  but  to  one's  queftion  of,. 
"  Who  lives  in  thefe  palaces  ?"  one  hears  that 
they  are  all  empty  fpace,  or  only  occupied  by 
goods  never  wanted,  or  corn  there  is  nobody 
to  feed  with  :  this  amazes  one  j  and  in  fact 
here  are  no  inhabitants  of  dignity  at  all  pro* 
portioned  to  the  refidences  providedfor  them  ; 
fo  that  when  one  fees  the  copies  of  antique 
8  has- 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     357 

bas-reliefs,  in  no  bad  fculpture,  decorating  the 
doors  whence  dangle  a  fhoulder  of  mutton, 
or  a  flioemaker's  laft,  it  either  fhocks  one  or 
makes  one  laugh,  like  the  old  Bartholomew 
trick  of  putting  a  baby's  face  upon  an  old 
man's  fhoulders,  or  (licking  a  king's  crown 
upon  a  peafant's  head. 

The  churches  are  very  fine  on  the  outfide, 
but  ftrangely  plain  within :  that,  however,  where 
the  royal  body  repofes  looked  folemn  and 
ftately  in  its  mourning  drei?.  Black  velvet, 
with  filver  fringe  and  taflels  very  rich  and 
heavy,  hung  over  the  pulpit,  family  feat,  &c. 
and  every  thing  ftruck  one  with  an  air  of  me- 
lancholy dignity.  The  king  of  PruffiVs  corpfe, 
no  longer  animated  by  ambition,  refts  quietly 
in  an  unornamented  folid  filver  coffin,  placed  in 
a  fort  of  clofet  above  ground,  the  door  to 
which  opens  clofe  to  the  pulpit's  feet,  and 
(hews  the  narrow  fpace  which  now  holds  his 
body,  befide  that  of  his  father,  and  the  great 
elector,  as  he  is  ftill  juftly  called. 

My  fepulchral  tour  is  now  nearly  fmimed  : 
we  have  in  the  courfe  of  this  journey  feen  the 
laft  remains  of  many  a  celebrated  mortal. 
Virgil,  Raphael,  Ariofto,  Scipio,  Galileo, 
Petrarch,  Carlo  Borromeo,  and  the  king  of 
A  a  3  Pruffia. 


358  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Pruflia.     How  different  each  from  other  in 
his  life  !     How  like  each  other  now  !     But 

Tous  cesmortsontvecu ;  toiquilis — tu  mourras : 
L'inftant  fatal  approche,  et  tu  n'y  penfe  pas*. 

I  could  have  wimed  before  my  return  to 
have  paufed  a  moment  on  the  tomb  of  Me- 
lancthon,  who  might  be  faid  to  have  united 
in  himfelf  their  feparate  perfections.  Cou- 
rage, genius,  moderation,  piety  !  perfever- 
ing  fleadinefs  in  the  right  way  himfelf;  can- 
did acknowledgment  of  merit,  even  in  his  ene- 
mies, where  he  faw  their  intentions  right, 
though  he  thought  their  tenets  and  their  con- 
duct wrong.  But  we  are  removed  far  from 
the  dwelling  of  the  peacemaker  ;  let  us  at  leaft 
look  at  the  palace,  now  we  have  examined  the 
coffin  of  him  whofe  ftudy  and  delight  was  war. 

Sans  Spuci  is  furely  an  elegantly  chofen 
fpot,  its  architecture  excellent,  its  furniture 
rich  yet  delicate,  the  gardens  very  happily 
difpofecj,  the  profpedt  from  its  windows  agree- 
able, the  pictures  within  an  admirable  collec- 


All  thefe  have  liv'd  ;  ye  too  who  read  muft  die  : 
Hafte  and  be  wife,  the  fateful  minutes  fly. 

10 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     359 

tion.  A  hall  built  in  imitation  of  the  Colonna 
gallery  {hews  Frederick's  tafte  at  once  and  li- 
beral fplrit  :  the  front  feems  borrowed  from 
ibmething  at  St.  Peter's ;  all  is  beautiful  ;  the 
gilding  of  his  long-room  makes  a  very  fudden 
and  ftrong  effecl:,  nor  are  marbles  of  immenfe 
value  wanting  ;  here  is  a  fpecimen  of  every 
thing  I  think,  and  t\vo  agate  tables  of  prodi- 
gious fize  and  beauty.  The  Silefian  chryfo- 
paz,  and  Carolina  marble  of  a  bright  fcarlet 
colour,  quite  luminous  like  the  feathers  of  a 
fighting  cock,  ftruck  me  with  their  fingular 
and  fplendid  appearance.  Rubens's  merit  was 
not  new  to  me,  I  hope ;  yet  here  is  a  refurrec- 
tion  of  Lazarus,  in  which  he  has  been  lavifh 
of  it.  The  compofition  of  this  picture  feems 
to  have  been  intended  to  furpafs  every  thing 
put  together  by  other  artifts :  its  colouring 
glows  like  life. 

The  king's  town-houfe,  however,  is  finer  far 
than  this  his  villa  was  defigned  to  be  ;  but  I 
grew  very  tired  walking  over  it :  when  one  has 
dragged  through  twenty-four  rooms  varioufly 
hung  with  pink  and  filver,  green  and  gold,&c. 
one  grows  cruelly  weary  with  repeating  thefame 
Jdeas  by  drawling  through  forty-eight  more. 
A  a  4  I  wiflied 


36o  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

I  wifhed  to  fee  his  own  private  living  apart- 
ments, and  to  mind  with  what  books  and 
pictures  he  adorned  the  drelTmg-room  he  al- 
ways fate  in :  the  firft  were  chiefly  works  of 
Voltaire  and  Metaftafio-— the  laft  were  fmaU 
landfcapes  of  Albano  and  Watteau.  At  our 
defire  they  fliewed  us  the  little  bed  he  llept, 
the  chairs  he  fate  in  familiarly.  Suetonius  in 
French  and  Italian  was  the  laft  author  he 
looked  into  ;  they  have  made  a  mark  at  the 
death  of  Auguftus,  where  he  was  reading 
when  the  fame  vifitant  -called  on  him,  quite 
unexpected  by  himfelf  it  feems,  though  all 
his  attendants  were  well  aware  of  his  ap- 
proach, As  he  expired  he  faid,  I  give  you  a 
•uqfl  deal  of  trouble.  We  faw  the  fpot  he  fate 
in  at  the  moment  ;  for  Frederick  no  more 
died  in  his  bed,  than  did  the  famous  Flavius 
Vefpafian  ;  his  fervants  wept  as  they  repeated 
the  particulars,  careffing  while  they  fpokc 
his  favourite  dogs,  one  of  which,  a  terrier, 
could  hardly  be  prevailed  upon  to  quit  the 
body.  It  ufed  to  amufe  the  king  to  fee  them 
frighted  when  he  would  take  them  to  a  long 
room  lined  with  French  mirrors,  which  he 


did  now  and  then  to  laugh  at  the  effect. 


Every 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      361 

Every  thing  at  Potzdam  fhews  a  man  in 
hafte  to  enjoy  what  he  had  laboured  fo  hard 
to  procure ;  nor  did  he  ever  refufe  himfelf, 
they  fay,  any  gratification  that  could  make 
age  lefs  wearifome,  or  illnefs  lefs  afflictive. 
He  had  much  tafte  of  Englifh  ingenuity — • 
combinations  of  convenience,  and  improve- 
ments in  mechanifm  :  his  own  writing-table, 
however,  was  contrived  by  himfelf;  it  ftands 
on  four  legs,  one  pair  longer  than  the  other 
to  make  it  flope;  the  covering  is  green  velvet, 
with  a  fquare  hole  for  the  ftandiih  to  drop 
in  and  not  fpill  the  ink  :  I  liked  the  device 
exceedingly,  but  wondered  he  thought  any 
device  worth  his  preference.  His  converfation 
to  his  fervants  was  affable  and  even  gay ;  they 
loved  his  pcrfon,  it  is  plain,  and  half  adore 
his  memory. 

Such  were  the  manners  then,  and  fuch  the 
death,  of  the  far-famed  philofopher  of  Sans 
Souci !  And  in  truth,  when  he  had  fo  often 
fet  all  prefent  and  future  happinefs  to  hazard, 
it  would  have  been  inconfiilent  not  to  haflen 
the  enjoyment :  nobody  comes  to  inhabit  his 
fine  town,  however,  which  has  much  the  look 
of  buildings  in  a  ftage  perfpective.  Soldiers 
only,  and  fuch  as  fell  wares  necefTary  to  fol- 

diers, 


362  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

diers,  were  all  the  human  creatures  I  could 
fee  here  ;  nor  are  families,  or  travellers  of  any 
fort  indeed,  better  accommodated  here  than 
at  inns  of  lets  pompous  appearance  on  the 
outfide. 

For  accommodations,  however,  I  care  but 
little  ;  I  have  now  walked  over  the  oldeft  and 
the  youngeft  cities  in  all  Europe,  and  have 
left  each  with  fincere  admiration  of  their  con- 
tents. Both  are  full  of  buildings  and  empty 
of  inhabitants,  nor  am  I  defirous  to  add  to 
the  number  in  either.  I  was  going  to  ftep 
forward  into  fome  room  of  the  palace  yefter- 
day — "  Madam,  come  back  this  inftant,"  ex- 
claimed our  Cicerone ;  "  if  that  chamber  is  en- 
tered, my  head  will  be  off  my  (boulders  in 
three  days  time."  Another  well  attefted  anec- 
dote may  be  worth  relating:  A  gentleman 
with  whom  we  pafied  an  agreeable  evening  at 
Berlin,  whofe  lady  invited  to  meet  145  wha.t- 
ever  was  moft  charming  in  the  town,  tph}  the 
following  flory  of  a  foldier  who,  being  de- 
firous of  his  body's  diflblution,  but  fearful  of 
his  foul's  rufhing  unprepared  into  eternity, 
caught  and  murdered  a  fix  months  old  baby ; 
giving  this  ftrange  account  of  his  own  feelings 
on  the  occafion,  and  adding,  that  he  did  not 

like 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  'GERMANY.     363 

like  to  kill  an  adult,  left  his  own  impatience 
of  life's  infupportable  torment  might  by  that 
means  precipitate  his  neighbour  to  perdition  ; 
but  that  a  baptized  infant  would  be  fure  of 
heaven,  and  he  himfelf  fhould  gain  time  to 
prepare  for  following  it — "And,  Lord !"  faid  my 
informer,  "what  reafoners  this  world  has  in  it !" 
The  foldier  was  hanged  fix  weeks  after  the 
dreadful  crime  was  committed ;  he  made  a 
very  decent  and  penitential  end. 

On  fuch  fads  what  obfervations  or  reflec- 
tions can  refult  ?  I  made  none,  but  gave  God 
thanks  that  I  was  born  a  fubjecT:  of  Great 
Britain. 


PQTZDAM    TO    HANOVER. 

ON  the  i  jth  of  January  1787  then  we 
quitted  Potzdam,  ftrongly  imprefled  by  the 
beauties  of  a  town  apparently  fabricated  by  a 
modern  Cadmus,  who,  when  all  the  foldiers 
that  he  could  raife  were  fallen  in  battle  for  his 
amufement,  retired  with  the  five  that  were 
left,  and  built  a  fine  city ! 

Branden- 


364  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Brandenbourg  was  our  next,  refting  place, 
and  feemed  to  me  to  merit  a  longer  ftay  in  it ; 
I  faw  an  old  Runick  figure  in  the  ftreet,  its 
fize  coloflal,  and  its  compofition  feemed  black 
bafalt ;  but  of  this  I  could  obtain  no  account 
for  want  of  language,  our  flill  recurring  tor- 
ment.— This  place  feems  fuller  of  inhabitants 
than  the  laft  ;  but  it  is^o  melancholy  to  have 
no  compenfation  for  the  fatigues  of  a  tedious 
journey  !  and  in  thefe  countries  information 
cannot  be  procured  for  travellers  that  do  not 
mean  to  refide,  prefent  letters,  &c. ;  which 
talk  we  have  at  this  feafon  little  tafte  to  renew. 
Magdebourg  makes  a  refpe£table  appear- 
ance at  a  diftance,  from  the  loftinefs  of  its 
turrets  ;  one  fees  them  at  leaft  four  long  hours 
before  the  roads  which  lead  to  it  permit  one's 
approach ;  and  the  towers  feem  to  retire  be- 
fore one,  like  Ulyfles's  fictitious  country  raifed 
to  deceive  him.  Never  was  I  fo  weary  in  my 
life  as  when  we  entered  Magdebourg,  where, 
inftead  of  going  out  to  fee  fights  as  ufual,  I 
defired  nothing  fo  fmcerely  as  a  hot  fupper 
and  foft  bed,  which  the  inns  of  Germany  ne~ 
ver  fail  to  afford  us  in  even  elegant  perfec- 
tion. 

Our 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      36$ 

Our  linen  too,  fo  beautifully,  and  I  will  add 
fo  unneceflarily  fine !  The  king  of  Naples 
probably  never  faw  fuch  fheets  and  table- cloths 
as  we  have  been  comforted  with  here,  not  only 
at  Drefden,  but  every  poft  fmce. 

Magdebourg  feems  to  have  almoft  all  its 
(Ireets  united  by  bridges ;  the  Elbe  divides 
there  into  fo  many  branches,  and  none  of  them, 
fmall. 

Helmftadt  is  a  little  place  which  affords  few 
images  to  the  mind,  and  Brunfwick  to  mere 
paflengers,  as  we  were,  feemed  to  yield  none 
but  fad  ones.  The  houfes  all  of  wood,  even  to 
prince  Ferdinand's  palace,  and  painted  of  a  dull 
olive  colour  with  heavy  penlile  roofs,  giving 
the  town  a  melancholy  look  ;  but  we  met 
•with  young  Englifhmen  who  commended  the 
fociety,  and  faid  no  place  could  be  gayer  than 
Brunfwick.  This  is  among  the  reports  one 
wifhes  to  be  true,  and  we  are  led  the  more 
\villingly  to  believe  them. 

Another  delight  which  I  enjoyed  at  this 
city  was,  to  find  that  every  body  in  it,  and 
every  body  paffing  through  it,  adored  the 
duchefs,  whofe  partial  fondnefs,  and  tender 
remembrance  of  her  native  country,  juftly 

endears 


366  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

endears  her  name  to  every  fubject  of  Great 
Britain.  Her  chapel  is  pretty  ;  the  garden, 
where  they  faid  me  always  walked  two  hours 
every  day,  put  me  in  mind  of  Gray's-Inn 
tvalks  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  ;  they  were 
then  very  like  it. 

From  thefe  fcenes  of  folitude  without  re- 
tirement, and  of  age  without  antiquity,  I  was 
willing  enough  to  be  gone ;  but  they  would 
fhew  me  one  curiofity  they  faid,  as  I  feemed 
to  feel  particular  pleafure  in  fpeaking  of  their 
charming  duchefs.  We  followed,  and  were 
fhewn  her  coffin!  all  in  filver,  finely  carved, 
chafed,  engraved,  what  you  will.  "  Before 
ihe  is  dead  !"  exclaimed  I — "  Before  fhe  was 
even  married,  madam,*'  replied  our  Cicerone; 
"  it  is  the  very  fmeft  ever  made  inBrunfwick; 
we  had  it  ready  for  her  againft  fhe  came  home 
to  us,  and  you  fee  the  plate  left  vacant  for 
her  age.*'  I  wras  glad  to  drive  forward  now, 
and  flept  at  Peina ;  which,  though  in  ilfelf 
a  miferable  place,  exhibits  one  confolatory 
fight  for  a  Chriftian — the  fight  of  toleration. 
Here  Romanics,  Lutherans,  and  Calvinifts, 
live  all  affeclionately  and  quietly  together, 
under  the  protection  of  the  bifhop  of  Fader- 
borne  ;  and  here  I  firft  faw  the  king  of  Eng- 
land's 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     367 

land's  livery  upon  the  king  of  England's  fer- 
vants  fmce  I  left  home — "And  if  they  are  rag- 
ged youngfters  who  wear  it,"  faid  I,  "  they  are 
my  fellow-iubjeds,  and  glad  am  I  to  fee 
them !" 

The  villages  and  churches  hereabouts  re- 
fernble  thofe  of  Merioneth  (hire,  only  that  not 
a  mountain  rears  its  head  at  all — one  vaft, 
wide,  barren  flat,  through  which  roads  that 
no  weather  can  render  better  than  barely  paf- 
fable  brought  us  at  length  to  Hanover,  which 
ftands,  as  all  thefe  cities  do  in  the  north  of 
Germany,  upon  an  immenfe  plain,  with  a 
thick  wood  of  noble  timber  trees  breaking 
from  time  to  time  the  almoft  boundlefs  void, 
and  relieving  the  eye,  which  is  fatigued  by 
extent  without  any  object  to  repofe  upon,  in 
a  manner,  I  can  with  difficulty  comprehent^ 
much  lefs  explain ;  but  the  fight  of  a  paffing 
waggon,  or  diftant  fpire,  is  a  felicity  feldom 
found,  though  continually  fought  by  me, 
while  travelling  through  thefe  wide  wafted 
countries,  where  no  idea  is  afforded  to  the 
imagination,  no  image  remitted  to  the  mind, 
but  that  of  two  armies  encountering  each 
other,  to  difpute  the  plunder  cf  fome  place 
already  unable  to  feed  its  few  inhabitants. 

The 


36$  OBSERVATIONS,   IN   A 

The  horfes  however  are  exceedingly  beauti- 
ful ;  we  were  offered  a  pair  of  very  fine  ones  for1 
Only  forty  pounds.  They  would  have  run  fuch 
hazards  getting  home !  "  There  are  two  ways  to 
chufe  out  of,"  faid  I ;  "if  we  purchafe  them-, 
we  {hall  repent  on  it  every  day  till  we  arrive  in 
London  ;  if  we  do  not,  we  fhall  repent  on  it 
every,  day  after  we  get  there."  Such  is  life  ! 
we  did  not  buy  the  cattle. 

The  cleanlinefs  of  the  windows,  the  man- 
ner of  paving  and  lighting  the  ftreets  at  Ha- 
nover, put  us  in  mind  a  little  of  fome  country 
towns  in  the  remoter  provinces  of  England ; 
and  there  feems  to  be  likewife  a  little  glimpfe 
of  Britifh  manners,  drefs,  &c.  breaking  through 
the  common  and  natural  fafhions  of  the 
country.  This  was  very  pleafmg  to  us,  but 
I  wiihed  the  place  grander;  I  do  not  very  well 
know  why,  but  we  had  long  counted  on  com- 
forts here  as  at  home^  and  I  had  formed  ex- 
pectations of  fomething  much  more  magnifi- 
cent than  we  found  ;  though  the  Duke  of 
York's  refidence  does  give  the  town  an  air 
of  cheerfulnefs  it  fcarce  could  {hew  without 
that  advantage  ;  and  here  are  concerts  and 
balls,  and  efforts  at  being  gay,  which  may 
probably  fucceed  fometime.  How  did  all 

the 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     369 

the  talk  however,  and  all  the  pamphlets,  and 
all  the  lamentations  made  by  old  King  George's 
new  fubje&s,  rufli  into  my  mind,  when  I 
recollected  the  loud,  illiberal,  and  indecent 
clamours  made  from  the  year  1720  to  the  year 
1750,  at  leaft  till  the  alarm  given  by  the 
Rebellion  began  to  operate,  and  open  people's 
eyes  to  the  virtues  of  the  reigning  family  !  for 
till  then,  no  topic  had  fo  completely  engroffed 
both  prefs  and  converfation,  as  the  misfor- 
tunes accruing  to  poor  old  England,  from  their 
King's  defire  of  enriching  his  Electoral  do- 
minions, and  feeding  his  favourite  Hano- 
verians with  their  good  guineas,  making  fat  the 
objects  of  his  partial  tendernefs  with  their 
beft  treafures — in  good  time  !  Such  ground- 
lefs  charges  remind  one  of  a  ftory  the  famous 
French  wit  Moniieur  de  Menage  tells  of  his 
mother  and  her  maid,  who,  having  wafted  or 
fold  a  pound  of  butter,  laid  the  theft  upon 
the  cat,  perfifting  fo  violently  that  it  had  been 
all  devoured  by  the  rapacious  favourite,  that 
Madame  de  Menage  faid,  "  It's  very  well ; 
we  will  weigh  the  cat,  poor  thing  !  and  know 
the  truth :"  The  fcales  were  produced,  but 
pufs  could  be  found  to  weigh  only  tfjree  quar- 
ters^ after  all  her  depredations. 
VOL.  II.  B  b  FROM 


370  OBSERVATIONS   IN   A 


FROM  HANOVER  TO  BRUSSELS. 


TRAVELLING  night  and  day  through  the 
moft  difmal  country  I  ever  yet  beheld,  brought 
us  at  length  to  Munfter,  where  we  had  a  good 
inn  again,  and  talked  Englifh.  Well  may 
all  our  writers  agree  in  celebrating  the  miferies 
of  Weftphalia !  well  may  they,  while  the 
wretched  inhabitants,  uniting  poverty  with 
pride,  live  on  their  hogs,  with  their  hogs,  and 
like  their  hogs,  in  mud-walled  cottages,  a 
dozen  of  which  together  is  called  by  courtefy 
a  village,  furrounded  by  black  heaths,  and 
wild  uncultivated  plains,  over  which  the  un- 
refifted  wind  fweeps  with  a  velocity  I  never 
yet  was  witnefs  to,  and  now  and  then,  exaf- 
perated  perhaps  by  folitude,  returns  upon  itfelf 
in  eddies  terrible  to  look  on.  Well,  the  woes 
of  mortal  man  are  chiefly  his  own  fault ;  war 
and  ambition  have  depopulated  the  country, 
which  otherwife  need  not  I  believe  be  poor, 
as  here  is  capability  enough,  and  the  weather, 

though 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     371 

though  flormy*  is  not  otherwife  particularly 
difagreeable,  January  is  no  mild  month  any 
where ;  even  Naples,  fo  proverbially  delicious, 
is  noify  enough  with  thunder  and  lightning  ; 
and  the  torrents  of  rain  which  often  fall  at 
this  feafon  at  Rome  and  Florence,  make  them 
unpleafmg  enough.  Nor  do  I  believe  that 
the  very  few  people  one  finds  here  are  of  a 
lazy  difpofition  at  all ;  but  it  is  fo  feldom  that 
one  meets  with  the  human  face  divine  in  this 
Weftern  fide  of  Germany,  that  one  fcarce 
knows  what  they  are,  but  by  report. 

The  town  of  Munfter  is  catholic  I  fee ; 
their  cathedral  heavily  and  clumfily  adorned, 
like  the  old  Lutheran  church  called  Santa 
Sophia  at  Drefden.  One  pair  of  their  filver 
candlefticks  however  are  eight  feet  high,  and 
exhibit  more  folidity  than  elegance.  They 
told  us  fomething  about  the  three  kings,  who 
muft  have  loft  their  way  amazingly  if  ever 
they  wandered  into  Weftphalia,  and  deferved 
to  lofe  their  name  of  wife  men  too,  I  think. 
We  were  likewife  {hewn  the  fword  worn  by 
St.  Paul,  they  told  us,  and  a  backgammon 
table  preferred  behind  the  high  altar,  I  could 
not  for  my  life  find  out  why ;  at  firft  our  inter- 
B  b  2  preter 


372  OBSERVATIONS   IN  A 

preter  told  us,  that  the  man  faid  it  had  be- 
longed to  John  the  Baptijl^  but  on  further  en- 
quiry we  underftood  him  that  it  was  once 
ufed  by  fome  Anabaptiftsj  as  that  feemed  no 
lefs  wild  a  rcafon  for  keeping  it  there,  than 
the  other  feemed  as  an  account  of  its  original, 
we  came  away  uninformed. 

Of  the  reafon  why  Hams  are  better  here 
than  in  any  other  part  of  Europe,  it  was  not 
fo  difficult  to  obtain  the  knowledge,  and  the 
inquiry  was  much  more  ufeful. 

Poor  people  here  burn  a  vaft  quantity  of 
very  fine  old  oak  in  their  cottages,  which, 
having  no  chimney,  detain  the  fmoke  a  long 
time  before  it  makes  its  efcape  out  at  the  door. 
This  fmoke  gives  the  peculiar  flavour  to  that 
bacon  which  hangs  from  the  roof,  already  fat 
with  the  produce  of  the  fame  tree  growing 
about  thefe  diftricts  in  a  plenty  not  to  be  be- 
lieved. Indeed  the  fole  decoration  of  this 
.devafted  country  is  the  large  quantity  of  ma- 
jeftic  timber  trees,  almoft  all  oak,  living  to 
fuch  an  age,  and  fpreading  their  broad  arms 
with  fuch  venerable  dignity,  that  it  is  they 
who  appear  the  ancient  pofleflbrs  of  the  land, 
who,  in  the  true  ftyle  of  Gothic  fupremacy, 

fuck 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.    373 

fuck  all  the  nutriment  of  it  to  themfelves,  only 
Shaking  off  a  few  acorns  to  content  the  im* 
mediate  hunger  of  the  animal  race,  which 
here  feems  in  a  ftate  of  great  degeneracy  in- 
deed, compared  to  thofe  haughty  vegetables. 

This  day  I  faw  a  fryar ;  the  firft  that  has 
crofled  my  fight  fmce  we  left  the  town  of  Mu- 
nich in  Bavaria.  On  the  road  to  Dufleldorp  one 
fees  the  country  mend  at  every  ftep  ;  but 
even  /  can  perceive  the  language  harfher,  the 
further  one  is  removed  from  Hanover  on 
either  fide  :  for  Hanover,  as  Madame  de  Bi- 
anconi  told  me  at  Drefden,  is  the  Florence  of 
Germany ;  and  the  tongue  fpoken  at  that 
town  is  fuppofed,  and  juftly,  the  criterion  of 
perfect  Teutfcb. 

The  gallery  of  paintings  here  fhall  delay 
us  but  two  or  three  days;  I  am  fo  very  weary 
of  living  on  the  high  roads  of  Teitchland  all 
winter  long !  Gerard  Dow's  delightful 
mountebank  ought,  however,  to  have  two  of 
thofe  days  devoted  to  him,  and  here  is  the 
mofl  capital  Teniers  which  the  world  has  to 
fhow.  Jaques  Jordaens  never  painted  any 
thing  fo  well  as  the  feaft  in  this  gallery,  where 
there  are  likewife  fome  wonderful  Sckalkens ; 
B  b  3  befides 


374  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

befides  Rembrandt's  portrait  of  himfelf  much 
out  of  repair,  and  old  Franck's  Seven  Ads  of 
Mercy  varnifhed  up,  as  well  as  the  martyr- 
doms reprefenting  fome  of  the  perfecutions  in 
early  times  of  Chriftianity ;    thefe  might  be 
called  the  Seven  Acts  of  Cruelty — a  duplicate 
of  the  picture  maybe  feen  at  Vienna.     When 
one  has   mentioned  the  Vanderwerfs,  which 
are  all  fifters,  and  the  demi-divine  Carlo  Dolce 
in    the    window,    reprefenting    the    infant 
Jefus  with  flowers,  full  of  fweetnefs  and  in- 
nocent expreffion,  it  will  be  time  to  talk  of 
the  General  Judgment,  painted  with  aftonifh- 
ing  hardihood  by  Rubens,    and   which  we 
ftopt  here  chiefly  to  fee.     The  fecond  Perfon 
of  the  Trinity  is  truly  fublime,  and  formed 
upon  an  idea  more  worthy  of  him,  at  leaft 
more  correfpondent  to  the  general  ideas  than 
that  in  Cappella  Seftini ;   where  a  beholder  is 
tempted  to  think  on  Julius  Csefar  fomehow, 
inftead  of  Jefus  Chrift — a  Conqueror,  more 
than  a  Saviour  of  mankind. 

St.Michael's  figure  is  incomparable;  thofe  of 
Mofesand  St.  Peter  happily  imagined ;  the  fpirit 
of  compofition,  the  manner  of  grouping  and 
colouring,  the  general  effect  of  the  whole, 
prodigious !  I  know  not  why  he  has  fo  fallen 

below 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      375 

below  himfelf  in  the  Madonna's  chara&er ; 
perhaps  not  imitating  Tintoret's  lovely  Virgin 
in  Paradife,  he  has  done  worfe  for  fear  of 
being  fervile.  Tintoret's  idea  of  her  is  fo  very 
poetical !  but  thofe  who  {hewed  it  me  at  Ve- 
nice faid  the  drawing  was  borrowed  from 
Guariento,  I  remember. 

Who  however  except  Rubens  would  have 
thought  fo  juftly,  fo  liberally,  fo  wifely,  about 
the  Negro  drawn  up  to  heaven  by  the  angels  ? 
who  Hill  retains  the  old  terreftrial  character,  fo 
far  as  to  fhew  a  difpofition  to  laugh  at  their 
fituation  who  on  earth  tormented  him.  When 
all  is  faid,  every  body  knows  very  well  that 
Michael  Angelo's  picture  on  this  fubject  is  by 
far  the  finer*;  and  that  neither  Rubens  nor  Tin- 
toret  ever  pretended,  or  even  hoped  to  be 
thought  as  great  artifts  as  he :  but  though  Dante 
is  a  fublimer  poet  than  Taflb,  and  Milton  a 
•writer  of  more  eminence  than  Pope,  tbefe  laft 
will  have  readers,  reciters,  and  quoters,  while 
the  others  muft  fit  down  contented  with  filent 
veneration  and  acknowledged  fuperiority. 

This  day  we  faw  the  Rhine — what  rivers 

thefe  are  !  and  what  enormous  inhabitants  they 

do  contain!  a  brace  of  bream,and  eels  of  a  mag- 

B  b  4  nitude 


37&  OBSERVATIONS   IN   A 

nitude  and  flavour  very  uncommon  except  in 
Germany,  were  our  fupper  here.  But  the 
manners  begin  I  fee  to  fade  away  upon  the 
borders;  our  foft  feather  beds  are  left  behind  ; 
men  too,  fometimes  fad,  nafty,  ill-looked 
fellows,  come  in  one's  room  to  fweep,  &c.  and 
light  the  fire  in  the  ftove,  which  is  now  al- 
ways made  of  lead,  and  the  fumes  are  very 
offenfive  ;  no  more  tight  maids  to  be  £een : 
but  we  lhall  get  good  roads  ;  at  Liege,  down 
hv  a  dirty  coal  pit,  the  bad  ones  end  I  think  ; 
and  that  town  may  be  faid  to  finifh  all  our 
difficulties.  After  pafling  through  our  laft 
difagreeable  refting-place  then,  one  finds  the 
manners  take  a  tint  of  France,  and  begins  to 
fee  again  what  one  has  often  feen  before. 
The  forefts  too  are  fairly  left  behind,  but  neat 
agriculture,  and  comfortable  cottages  more  than 
fupply  their  lofs.  Broom,  juniper,  every 
Englifh  fhrub,  announce  our  proximity  to  Great 
Britain,  while  pots  of  mazerion  in  flower  at 
the  windows  fhew  that  we  are  arrived  in  a 
country  where  fpring  is  welcomed  with  cere- 
mony, as  well  as  received  with  delight.  The 
forwardnefs  of  the  feafon  is  indeed  furprifmg ; 
though  it  freezes  at  night  now  and  then,  the 
general  feel  of  the  air  is.  very  mild ;  willows 

already 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      377 

already  give  figns  of  refufcitation,  while  flights 
of  yellowhammers,  a  bird  never  obferved  in 
Italy  I  think,  enliven  the  fields,  and  look  as  if 
they  expected  food  and  felicity  to  be  near. 

Louvaine  would  have  been  a  place  well 
worth  flopping  at,  they  tell  me ;  but  we  were 
in  hafte  to  finifh  our  journey  and  arrive  at 


BRUSSELS. 


EVERY  ilep  towards  this  comfortable  city 
lies  through  a  country  too  well  known  to  need 
defcription,  and  too  beautiful  to  be  ever  de- 
fcribed  as  it  deferves.  Les  Vues  de  Flandrts 
are  bought  by  the  Englifh,  admired  by  the 
Italians,  and  even  efteemed  by  the  French, 
who  like  few  things  out  of  their  own  nation ; 
but  thefe  places  once  belonged  to  Louis  Qua- 
torze,  and  the  language  has  taken  fuch  root 
it  will  never  more  be  eradicated.  Here  are 
very  fine  pictures  in  many  private  hands;  Mr. 
Danot's  collection  does  not  want  me  to  cele- 
brate its  merits  5  and  here  is  a  lovely  park, 

and 


378  OBSERVATIONS   IN  A 

and  a  pleafing  coterie  of  Englifli,  and  a  very 
gay  carnival  as  can  be,  people  running  about 
the  ft  reels  in  crowds ;  but  their  theatre  is  a 
vile  one  :  after  Italy,  it  will  doubtlefs  be  diffi- 
cult to  find  mafques  that  can  amufe,  or  theatres 
that  can  ftrike  one.  But  never  did  nation 
poiTefs  a  family  more  charming  than  that  of 
La  DucbeJJe  I? Arenberg^  who,  graced  with 
every  accomplifhment  of  mind  and  perfon, 
devotes  her  time  and  thoughts  wholly  to  the 
amufement  of  her  amiable  confort,  calling 
round  them  all  which  has  any  power  of  al- 
leviating his  diftrefsful  condemnation  to  per- 
petual darknefs,  from  an  accident  upon  a 
{hooting  party  that  coft  him  his  fight  about 
fix  or  feven  years  ago.  Mean  time  her  arm 
always  guides,  her  elegant  converfation  always 
foothes  him  ;  and  either  from  gaiete  de  casur^ 
philofophical  refolution  to  bear  what  heaven 
ordains  without  repining,  or  a  kind  defire  of 
correfponding  with  the  Duchefs's  intentions, 
he  appears  to  lofe  no  pleafure  himfelf,  nor 
power  of  pleafing  others,  by  his  misfortune  ; 
but  dances,  plays  at  cards,  chats  with  his 
Englifh  friends,  and  liftens  delightedly  (as 
who  does  not  ?)  when  charming  Countefs  Cleri 
fmgs  to  the  harpfichord's  accompaniment, 

with 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      379 
with   all  Italian  tafte,  and  all  German  exe- 
cution.    By  the  Duke  D'Aremberg  we  were 
introduced  to  Prince  Albert  of  Saxony,  and 
the  Princefle  Gouvernante,  whofe  refemblance 
to  her  Imperial  brother  is  very  flriking  •  her 
hand  however,   fo  eminently  beautiful,  is  to 
be  kifled  no  more  ;  the  abolition  of  that  cere- 
mony has  taken  place  in  all  the  Emperor's 
family.    The  palace  belonging  to  thele  princes 
is  fo  entirely  in  the  Engliih  tafte,  with  plea- 
fure  grounds,  fhrubbery,  lawn,  and  laid  out 
water,   that   I  thought  myfelf  at  home,  not 
becaufe  of  the  polite  attentions  received,  for 
thofe  I  have  found  abroad^  where  no  merits 
of  mine  could  poflibly  have  deferved,  nor  no 
fervices  have  purchafed  them.     Spontaneous 
kindnefs,  and  friendfliip  refuldng  merely  from 
that  innate  worth  that  loves  to  energize  its 
own  affections  on  an  object  which  fome  cir- 
cumftances  had  cafually  rendered  interefting, 
are  the  lading  comforts  I  have  derived  from 
a  journey  which  has  fhewn  me  much  variety, 
and  imprefled  me  with  an  efteem  of  many 
characters  I  have  been  both  the  happier  and 
the  wifer  for  having  known.     Such  were  the 
friends  I  left  with  regret,  when,  crofTing  the 
Tyrolefe  Alps,   I  fent   my  laft  kind   wiihes 
I  back 


380  OBSERVATIONS   IN   A 

back  to  the  dear  ftate  of  Venice  in  a  figh : 
fuch  too  were  my  emotions,  when  we  took 
leave  laft  night  at  Lady  Torrington's ;  and 
refolving  to  quit  Bruflels  to-morrow  for  Ant- 
werp, determined  to  exchange  the  brilliant 
converfation  of  a  Boyle^  for  the  glowing  pen- 
cil of  a  Rubens. 

ANTWERP. 

THIS  is  a  difmal  heavy  looking  town— -fo 
melancholy  !  the  Scheld  fhut  up  !  the  grafs 
growing  in  the  ilreets !  thofe  ftreets  fo  empty 
of  inhabitants!  and  it  was  fo  famous  once. 
Atuatum  nobile  Brabantia  opldtim  In  rlpd  Schal- 
disjlu.  Europe  natwmbus  maxime  freqttenta- 
tum.  Sumptuofis  tarn  privatis  quam  publicis 
nltet  adificiis*^  fay  the  not  very  old  books  of 
geography  when  fpeaking  of  this  once  (lately 
city; 

But;  trade's  proud  empire  fweeps  to  fwift  decay, 
As  ocean  heaves  the  labour'd  mole  away. 

GOLDSMITH. 

*  Antwerp  is  a  noble  town  of  Brabant,  fituated  on 
the  banks  of  the  Scheld  ;  frequented  by  moft  of  the  na- 
tions in  Europe,  and  fumptuous  in  its  buildings  both 
public  and  private. 

And 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.      381 

And  furely  if  the  empire  of  Rome  is  actu- 
ally fled  away  into  air  like  a  dream,  the  opu- 
lence of  Antwerp  may  .well  crumble  to  earth 
like  a  clod.  What  defies  time  is  genius ;  and 
of  that,  many  and  glorious  proofs  are  yet  left 
behind  in  this  place.  The  compofition  of  a 
picture  painted  to  adorn  the  altar  under  which 
lies  buried  that  which  was  mortal  of  its  artift, 
is  beyond  all  meaner  praife.  The  figure  of  St. 
George  might  ftand  by  that  of  Corregio,  and 
fuffer  no  diminution  of  one's  efteem.  The 
defcent  from  the  crofs  too  ! — Well !  if  Daniel 
de  Volterra's  is  more  elegantly  pathetic,  Ru- 
bens has  put  bis  pathos  in  a  properer  place, — 
The  blefled  Virgin  Mary  ought  to  be  but  the 
fecond  figure  certainly  in  a  fcene  which  repre- 
fents  our  almighty  Saviour  himfelf  complet- 
ing the  redemption  of  all  mankind.  But  here 
is  another  devotional  piece,  highly  poetical, 
almoft  dramatic,  rcprefenting  Chrifl  defcend- 
ing  in  anger  to  confume  a  guilty  world.  The 
globe  at  a  diftance  low  beneath  his  feet,  his 
pious  mother  proftrate  before  him,  covering 
part  of  it  with  her  robe,  and  deprecating  the 
divine  wrath  in  a  moft  touching  manner.  St. 
Sebaftian  fhewing  his  wounds  with  an  air  of 
the  tendereft  fupplication  ;  Carlo  Borromseo 
£  befeeching 


382  OBSERVATIONS    IN   A 

befeeching  in  heaven  for  thofe  fellow-creatures 
he  ceafed  not  loving  or  ferving  while  on  earth  ; 
and  St.  Francis  in  the  groupe,  but  furely  ill- 
chofen ;  as  he  who  left  the  world,  and  planned 
only  his  own  falvation  by  retirement  from  its 
cares  and  temptations,  would  be  unlikely 
enough  to  intreat  for  its  longer  continuance  : 
his  drefs  however,  fo  favourable  to  painters, 
was  the  reafon  he  was  pitched  upon  I  truft,  as 
it  affords  a  particularly  happy  contraft  to  the 
cardinal's  robes  of  St.  Carlo. 

I  will  finifh  my  reflections  upon  painting 
here,  and  apologize  for  their  frequency  only 
by  confeffing  my  fondnefs  for  the  art  5  and  my 
conviction,  that  had  I  faid  nothing  of  that 
art  in  a  journey  through  Italy  and  Germany, 
where  fo  much  of  every  traveller's  attention  is 
led  to  mention  it,  I  fhould  have  been  juftly 
blamed  for  affectation ;  while  being  cenfured 
for  impertinence  difgufts  me  lefs  of  the  two. 
What  I  have  learned  from  the  Italians  is  a 
maxim  more  valuable  than  all  my  ftock  of 
connoiffeurfhip  :  Che  ce  in  tutto  il  fuo  bene^  e 
ilfuo  male — that  there  is  much  of  evil  and  of 
good  in  every  thing :  and  the  life  of  a  traveller 
evinces  the  truth  of  that  pofition  perhaps  more 

than 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     383 

than  any  other.  So  perfuaded,  we  made  a 
bold  endeavour  to  crofs  the  Scheld  ;  but  the 
wind  was  fo  outrageoufly  high,  no  boat  was 
willing  to  venture  till  towards  night  :  at  that 
hour  "  Units ,  et  hlc  audax*"  as  Leander  fays, 
offered  his  fervice  to  convey  us ;  but  the 
paflage  of  the  Rhine  had  been  fo  rough  be- 
fore, that  I  felt  by  no  means  difpofed  to  face 
danger  again  juft  at  the  clofe  of  the  battle. 

When  we  find  a  difpofition  to  talk  over  our 
adventures,  the  great  ice  iflands  driving  down 
Rbenus  ferox ,  as  Seneca  juftly  calls  it,  and 
threatening  to  run  againft  and  deftroy  our 
awkward  ill-contrived  boat,  may  divert  care 
over  a  winter's  fire,  fome  evening  in  England, 
by  recollection  of  paft  perils.  I  thought  it  a 
dreadful  one  at  the  time ;  and  have  no  tafte 
to  renew  a  like  fceue  for  the  fake  of  crofling 
the  Scheld,  and  arriving  a  very  few  moments 
fooner  than  returning  through  Bruflels  will 
bring  us— a  la  Place  dc 


*  One— and  he  a  bold  one. 


LILLE; 


OBSERVATIONS   IN  A 


LILLE; 

WHERE  every  thing  appears  to  me  to  be 
juft  like  England,  at  leaft  juft  by  it ;  and 
in  fad  four  and  twenty  hours  would  carry  us 
thither  with  a  fair  wind :  and  now  it  really 
does  feel  as  if  the  journey  were  over ;  and 
even  in  that  fenfation,  though  there  is  fome 
pleafure,  there  is  fome  pain  too ; — the  time 
and  the  places  are  paft ; — and  I  have  only  left 
to  wifh,  that  my  improvements  of  the  one, 
and  my  accounts  of  the  others,  were  better  ; 
for  though  Mr.  Sherlock  comforts  his  fol- 
lowers with  the  kind  aflertion,  That  if  a  hun- 
dred men  of  parts  travelled  over  Italy,  and 
each  made  a  feparate  book  of  what  he  faw  and 
obferved,  a  hundred  excellent  compofitions 
might  be  made,  of  which  no  two  fhould  be 
alike,  yet  all  new,  all  refembling  the  original, 
and  all  admirable  of  their  kind. — One's  con- 
flantly-recurring  fear  is,  left  the  readers  fhould 
cry  out,  with  Juliet — 

Yea,  but  all  this  did  I  know  before ! 

How 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     335 

How  truly  might  they  fay  fo,  did  I  mention 
the  oddity  (for  oddity  it  ftill  is)  in  this  town 
of  Lille,  to  fee  dogs  drawing  in  carts  as  beafts 
of  burden,  and  lying  down  in  the  market- 
place when  their  work  is  done,  to  gnaw  the 
bones  thrown  them  by  their  drivers  ;  they  are 
of  maftiff  race  feemingly,  crofled  by  the  bull- 
dog, yet  not  quarrelfome  at  all.  This  is  a 
very  awkward  and  barbarous  practice  however, 
arid,  as  far  as  I  know,  confined  to  this  city ; 
for  in  all  'others,  people  feem  to  have  found 
out,  that  horfes,  afTes,  and  oxen  are  the  pro- 
per creatures  to  draw  wheel  carriages — 
except  indeed  at  Vienna,  where  the  ftreets  are 
fo  very  narrow,  that  the  men  refolve  rather  to 
be  harnefled  than  run  over. 

How  fine  I  thought  thefe  churches  thirteen 
years  ago,  comes  now  thirteen  times  a-day 
into  my  head  ;  they  are  not  fine  at  all  ;  but 
it  was  the  firft  time  I  had  ever  crofled  the 
channel,  and  I  thought  every  thing  a  wonder, 
and  fancied  we  were  arrived  at  the  world's 
end  almoft  ;  fo  differently  do  the  felf-fame 
places  appear  to  the  felf-fame  people  furrounded 
by  different  circumftances !  J  now  feel  as  if 
we  were  at  Canterbury.  Was  one  to  go  to 

VOL.  II.  C  c 


386  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

Egypt,  the  fight  of  Naples  on  the  return 
home  would  probably  afford  a  like  fenfation 
of  proximity :  and  I  recoiled:,  one  of  the  gen- 
tlemen who  had  been  with  Admiral  Anfon 
round  the  world  told  us,  that  when  he  came 
back  as  near  as  our  Eaft  India  fettlements,  he 
confidered  the  voyage  as  rimmed,  and  all  his 
toils  at  an  end — fo  is  my  little  book;  and 
(if  Italy  may  be  confidered,  upon  Sherlock's 
principle,  as  a  fort  of  academy-figure  fet  up 
for  us  all  to  draw  from)  my  defign  of  it  may 
have  a  chance  to  go  in  the  portfolio  with  the 
reft,  after  its  exhibition-day  is  over. 

With  regard  to  the  general  effect  travelling 
has  upon  the  human  mind,  it  is  different  with 
different  people.  Brydone  has  obferved,  that 
the  magnetic  needle  lofes  her  habits  upon  the 
heights  of  ^Itna,  nor  ever  more  regains  her 
partiality  for  the  north,  till  again  newly 
touched  by  the  loadftone  :  it  is  fo  with  many 
men  who  have  lived  long  from  home  ;  they 
find,  like  Imogen, 

That  there's  living  out  of  Britain ; 

and  if  they  return  to  it  after  an  abfence  of 

feveral  years,  bring  back  with  them  an  alien- 

i  ated 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     3g7 

ated  mind — this  is  not  well.  Others  there 
are,  who,  being  accuftomed  to  live  a  con- 
fiderable  time  in  places  where  they  have  not 
the  fmalleft  intention  to  fix  for  ever,  but  on 
the  contrary  firmly  refolve  to  leave  fometlme^ 
learn  to  treat  the  world  as  a  man  treats  his 
miftrefs,  whom  he  likes  well  enough,  but  has 
no  defign  to  marry,  and  of  courfe  never  pro- 
vides for — this  is  not  well  neither.  A  third 
fet  gain  the  love  of  hurrying  perpetually  from, 
place  to  place  ;  living  familiarly  with  all,  but 
intimately  with  none  ;  till  confounding  their 
own  ideas  (ftill  undifclofed)  of  right  and 
wrong,  they  learn  to  think  virtue  and  vice 
ambulatory,  as  Browne  fays ;  profefs  that 
climate  and  conftitution  regulate  men's  ac- 
tions, till  they  try  to  perfuade  their  com- 
panions into  a  belief  moft  welcome  to  them- 
felves,  that  the  will  of  God  in  one  place  is  by 
no  means  his  will  in  another ;  and  moft  re- 
femble  in  their  whirling  fancies  a  boy's  top  I 
once  faw  {hewn  by  a  profefTor  who  read  us  a 
lecture  upon  opticks  ;  it  was  painted  in  re- 
gular ftripes  round  like  a  narrow  ribbon,  red, 
blue,  green,  and  yellow  ;  we  fet  it  a-fpinning 
by  direction  of  our  philofopher,  who,  whip- 
ping it  merrily  about,  obtained  as  a  general 
C  c  2  efiedt 


388  OBSERVATIONS    IN    A 

effed  the  total  privation  of  all  the  four  co- 
lours, fo  diftind  at  the  beginning  of  its  tour; 
•— -it  refembled  a  dirty  white  ! 

With  thefe  reflexions  and  recollections  we 
drove  forward  to  Calais,  where  I  left  the 
following  lines  at  our  inn  : 

Over  mountains,  rivers,  vallies, 

Here  are  we  return'd  to  Calais ; 

After  all  their  taunts  and  malice* 

Ent'ring  fafe  the  gates  of  Calais  j 

While,  conftrain'd,  our  captain  dallies, 

Waiting  for  a  wind  at  Calais, 

Mufe !  prepare  fome  fprightly  Tallies 

To  divert  ennui  at  Calais. 

Turkilh  Ihips,  Venetian  gallies, 

Have  we  feen  fmce  laft  at  Calais ; 

But  tho'  Hogarth  (rogue  who  rallies !) 

Ridicules  the  French  at  Calais, 

We,  who've  walk'd  o'er  many  a  palace, 

Quite  well  content  return  to  Calais ; 

For,  ftriking  honeftly  the  tallies, 

There's  little  choice  'twixt  them  and  Calais. 

It  would  have  been  gracelefs  not  to  give 
thefe  lines  a  companion  on  the  other  fide  the 
water,  like  Dean  Swift's  diftich  before  and 
after  he  climbed  Penmanmaur :  thefe  verfes 
were  therefore  written,  and  I  believe  ftill  re- 
main, in  an  apartment  of  the  Ship  inn  : 

He 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  GERMANY.     389 

He  whom  fair  winds  have  wafted  over, 
Firft  hails  his  native  land  at  Dover, 
And  doubts  not  but  he  fhall  difcover 
Pleafure  in  ev'ry  path  round  Dover  -, 
Envies  the  happy  crows  which  hover 
About  old  Shakefpeare's  cliff  at  Dover  i 
Nor  once  reflects  that  each  young  rover 
Feels  juft  the  fame,  return'd  to  Dover. 
From  this  fond  dream  he'll  foon  recover 
When  debts  fhall  drive  him  back  to  Dover, 
Hoping,  though  poor,  to  live  in  clover, 
Once  fafely  pail  the  ftraits  of  Dover. 
But  he  alone's  his  country's  lover, 
Who,  abfent  long,  returns  to  Dover, 
And  can  by  fair  experience  prove  her 
The  belt  he  has  found  fmce  laft  at  Dover. 


THE     E  N  p. 


C  c  3 


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